Enhancement of Security in RFID using RSA Algorithm

Abstract

A huge revolution has occurred in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies during the past decades. More vendors are involved, and have invested in this technology, which promises wholesale changes across a broad spectrum of business activities. Currently, RFID systems are usually available in low, high, ultra-high, and microwave frequencies with passive, semi-passive (or semi-active) and active transponders or tags. Tags might be either Chipless, or contain a microchip with read only, or read and write memory. The component controlling communication in a RFID system is called a reader or interrogator, which can be stationary or portable depending on the application. In order for the tags to transmit their data, the tags must be in the reader’s field or interrogation zone, and receive the necessary energy (in form of radio waves) from the reader. Although promising, RFID is not without its challenges, which arise from both a technological and usage point of View (IT Pro, 2005).  A common concern with RFID is data security. Data Security is a key area in RFID usage, it determines wholly whether this technology will be adopted fully especially in this part of the world (Eastern and Central Africa) for business processes and automation. For this technology to be utilized fully and realized then the users of the system MUST be assured of their data’s security.People who use devices that carry personal financial information, such as credit card or other ID numbers, do not want others to access their accounts. These are significant security vulnerabilities in RFID. Some researchers have proposed schemes that would require tags to authenticate readers, thus transmitting information only to authorized readers.This research paper addresses the security challenge in RFID by proposing RSA algorithm as a viable solution to encrypt data over transmission and also authenticate the reader and the tags. Keywords: RFID, Security, authenticate, Data Security