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The RSA Professional Services division of RSA Security Inc. has developed a new RFID services offering in conjunction with RSA Laboratories to help clients assess RFID application security design issues.
The company expects to provide its new service to clients including consumer packaged goods manufacturers, logistics and transport providers, and retailers, as well as infrastructure suppliers and systems integrators.
Security perimeters expand
The problem is that RFID technology potentially expands the warehouse security perimeter to include a new class of devices that include RFID tags, readers, middleware and application servers. For example, like an unencrypted wireless network, an appropriately informed and equipped electronic intruder with a parabolic dish antenna could potentially eavesdrop on RFID readers, stealing information such as the type and quantity of goods a company has shipped or received. Additionally, security and trust problems could be increased by the need for sharing large volumes of internal RFID data with trading partners.
Consumer worries
Another often-voiced challenge where RFID technology is concerned is that of personal privacy protection for the consumer. Although in practise it is unlikely, any information left on RFID tags after a consumer leaves a store could potentially be read by electronic snoopers with RFID readers. According to RSA Security, that information could range from personal buying habits in a retail environment to the tracking of a driver's location using automatic road toll collection systems.
Corporate espionage?
But RSA supports the use of RFID technology for its remarkable potential, and agrees that it should not be dismissed by those who do not understand its overall commercial value. "But at the same time RFID introduces new security concerns, such as corporate-espionage, and raises questions about consumer privacy," explained Dan Bailey, RFID solutions architect at RSA Laboratories, the research centre of RSA Security. "RSA Security now aims to help clients understand these issues and strike the necessary balance between business and consumer interests."
"The business world is rapidly embracing RFID technology because of its potential to cost-effectively streamline the supply chain. But little attention is being paid to security," noted John Worrall, vice president of worldwide marketing for RSA Security. "Organisations are starting to recognise the risks, however, and are turning to companies like RSA Security to help bridge the gap between an efficient, secure business model and consumer privacy."
Source: RSA Security Inc.
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