Security Protocols and Extensions of Existing RFID Standards

Besides the implementation of security hardware for RFID systems, IAIK focuses also on the definition of security protocols especially suited for RFID applications. In the future, this area will be a very important one, as RFID is becoming a ubiquitous technology and also security-sensible applications will be realized using RFID. We try to extend existing RFID standards by integration of the proposed security protocols atop the protocol layer of existing standards in the EPC and ISO/IEC environment. The goal is to build a security layer for widely used standards to allow security solutions also in existing RFID environments.

One of our interests in this area is the building of simulations tools for RFID protocols. The main idea behind this is to provide a highly accurate estimation of the feasibility and efficiency of our security protocols. With software simulation tools, performance estimations and protocol adaptions can be made before the integration of our extensions in physical devices and environments. An example of a protocol evaluation tool for ISO/IEC 18000-3 can be found here: PETRA simulation tool. In our past projects we focused on (mutual and unilateral) challenge-response authentication protocols and their application. Projects dealing (amongst other interests) with the integration of authentication protocols for RFID technology are: ART, SNAP, BRIDGE, C@R, PIT.