An RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) tag is a small electronic circuit with antenna. These tags are powered by the electromagnetic field emitted by the reader, They are capable of exchanging data with a reader using the EM field. Recent advances in the manufacture of electronic devices have resulted in tags that can carry a useful amount of data and yet, since they have a very limited computational capability, are exceptionally cheap. Such devices are already routinely used in different types of inventory control – be it library books or shirts sold in a shop. But, as we look to the future, the number of applications in which RFID tags play an important role will multiply.

Unfortunately, such ubiquitous use of RFID tags and the development of what has become termed the internet of things will lead to a variety of security threats, many of which are quite unique to RFID deployment. Already industry, government, and citizens are aware of some of the successes and some of the limitations or threats of RFID tags, and there is a great need for researchers and technology developers to take up some of daunting challenges that threaten to undermine the commercial viability of RFID tags on the one hand, or to the rights and expectations of users on the other.

The proposed research project RFID-AP has been carefully focused on two important issues in the use of RFID tags. Yet, they both come under the uniting theme of "assurance". In short, the industry and user must be assured of the trustworthiness of the RFID tags and their deployment. This, in turn, is dependent on two often inter-related features:

Device Authentication allows us to answer several questions such as: Is the tag legitimate? Is the reader a tag interacts with legitimate?

Privacy: In the narrow sense of tag functionality, so that information pertaining to a tag's identity and behaviour is protected from disclosure by unauthorized parties or by unauthorized means, even by legitimate parties such as readers.

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Basically, the RFID-AP project doesn’t address the full spectrum of Privacy aspect, but only the part which is related to the use of RFID smart cards and/or electronic tags.

In general, Privacy is the right and capacity of a person to keep its live and personal affairs out of public view, or to control the flow of information about him in order to reveal oneself selectively. Privacy can be seen as an aspect of Security in the sense that personal data must be exchanged with an authenticated receiver in a confidential and reliable way.

The Consumer Privacy paradigm is illustrated in the following scheme, from “RFID privacy: Overview of Problems and Proposed Solutions”, Garfinkel et al.  IEEE S&P, 2005:

So if we mix definition on personal data issued by the French organization CNIL and a RFID system we can derive the following definition:

Consumers Privacy and RFID: The right and capacity of a consumer as a private person to not be directly or indirectly identified by Automatic Objects Identification Systems, especially in retails hypermarkets, commercial centers and services areas.

In a public library, for example, the information openly communicated by a tagged book could include its title or author. This may be unacceptable to some readers. Alternatively, RFID- protected pharmaceutical products might reveal a person's pathology. Turning to authenticity, if the RFID tag on a batch of medicines is not legitimate, then the drugs could be counterfeit and dangerous.

Authentication and privacy are concepts that are relevant to both suppliers and consumers. Indeed, it is arguable that an RFID deployment can only be successful if all parties are satisfied that the integrity between seller and buyer respects the twin demands of authentication and privacy.

The main goal of the project, therefore, is to propose and to prototype the design of cryptographic algorithms and secure protocols for RFID deployment. These algorithms and protocols may be used individually or in combination, and we anticipate that they will aid in providing authentication or privacy. One particular feature of the research in the RFID-AP project is that the work must be practical. Many academic proposals can be deeply flawed in practice since too little attention has been paid to the realities of implementation and deployment. This project will therefore be notable for the way theoretical work will be closely intertwined with the task of development and deployment.

The challenges to be addressed in the project are considerable. In particular there are demanding physical limits that apply to the algorithms and protocols that can be implemented on the cheapest RFID tags. While there often exist contemporary security solutions to issues such as authentication and privacy, in an RFID-based deployment they are not technically viable. And while one could consider increasing the technical capability of an RFID-tag to achieve a better range of solutions, the solution is not economically viable.

The project RFID-AP is one that addresses "fundamental research" and is a priority identified within Sécurité et Sûreté Informatique, Appel à Projects 2007.  The main theme is “Sécurité de l’information” Secondary themes are: “Justification de la confiance” and “Aspects sociétaux de l’informatique sécuritaire”

The goal of RFID-AP is to propose, analyse, validate, and prototype cryptographic algorithms and secure protocols for RFID-tag based applications. In particular, we will focus on innovative cryptographic primitives and new security protocols based on these primitives and the noisy tag principle. The motivations for such work are identified above and the innovations expected from the project are as follows:

• The design and analysis of ultra-low cost cryptographic primitives and algorithms.

• The development and generalization of noisy protocols which offer an innovative approach to low-cost security solutions, particularly in the presence of passive attackers.

• The design of efficient identification and authentication protocols providing authentication and privacy-benefits to cheap RFID-tags in the presence of active attackers.

• An understanding of the practical successes and limitations when implementing theoretically-promising low-cost algorithms and protocols.

To provide context to the work in the project, it is proposed that RFID-AP also perform two periods of survey and research.

The first survey would take place at the start of the project and would be devoted to a full study and understanding of existing solutions and their limitations, from technical, economic, and social perspectives.

The second survey would take place at the end of the project. As well as providing an opportunity to consider the net impact of the work in RFID-AP, the study would aim to cover the likely future design of solutions that might use emerging technologies such as micro- and nano-capabilities.

Thus, the RFID-AP project would itself be a stepping stone towards further research and new results beyond the formal lifetime of the project.