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Currently, RFID tags are used for lots of security applications. RFID badges control access to workplaces, RFID tags are used in passports and expensive consumer products, such as designer jewelry, as an anti-duplication or anti-theft device. Using RFID this way certainly is convenient, and for non-technical people it all looks secure enough. However, many technology professionals question whether it’s the wisest idea to rely on RDIF for security functionality at all.
Why? Well, one of the main concerns is poor encryption on the tags. Even “secure” RFID tags have frequently (and some brag, easily) been hacked. If you were to google “hacking RFID” today, you would get page after page of headlines such as “How to Hack the RFID Passport Chip,” “RFIDIOTS; RFID Hacking Without a Soldiering Iron,” and “RFID Credit Cards Easily Hacked With 8$ Reader.” This last one is attached to a news story from 2008, so you can rest assured that the criminal world is well apprised of the situation by now.
Another major concern is the fact that RFID tags can be read from a distance. This feature accounts for much of the technology’s convenience as well, and therein lies the controversy; as with any use of radio waves, the fact that a signal is broadcast indiscriminately and anyone with the right equipment can pick it up is both a great strength and a great weakness. Unfortunately, most RFID users don’t realize exactly how great a distance RFID tags can be read from. With the correct equipment, many RFID tags can be read from fifty to three hundred feet away. On top of this, while each tag has a unique signature, that signature can (once more, with the right equipment and know-how) be copied onto another tag.
If you are trying to prevent the technologically advanced criminal from getting your information (or potentially, access to your location), RFID is a security nightmare. Are you concerned about this? If you can avoid using RFID for tasks that should be secure, do. If for some reason you don’t get that choice, try shield your RFID tags as much as possible.