Radio Frequency Identification Tags - Essay Example

They proved that the once-thought virus-safe RFID tags are prone to virus attack even if the memory seems too small to contain all the information needed by the virus to ruin the technology. This research is a call for the RFID designers to take extra care in engineering the chips' code. Since the databases vary about their built in security, the designers should focus on the details of the lines of source code which numbers up to millions. Around 6 to 16 mistakes out of a thousand lines of code mean less security and vulnerability to virus attack.

This is important because RFID tags have promising uses in industries such as groceries and airports, wherein important information are all stored in databases. The uses include tracking and inventories, storage of information about personal and financial matters, and property monitoring. Interference of the RFID tags using the viruses does not affect only the system, but the larger scale of the industries concerned. False tags can be used on an item to deliver a virus in a properly working system.

This virus can then replicate its illegal code on the databases and corrupt the files. (Kirk, 2006). Privacy of information stored in RFID tags should start at the design and engineering stage. The RFID tags must be designed in such a way that it holds the minimum amount of information possible, without compromising its function and performance. Manufacturers must find a way to decrease the linkability of the tags with confidential data (Cavoukian, 2006). Since RFID tags carry important information, it is very usefule not only in identification but for access into different databases as well.

The Senate of the California State had passed a legislation which bans RFID tags in government transactions and documentations. Integration of RFID in any form of identification card, license, and document issued by the state. This prohibition is applicable also in the use of RFID by the employees for security access. (Hook, 2005). The University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Science created a website called the RFID Guardian. The site aims to help RFID users secure their privacy. The website, www.

rfidguardian.org, offers a free video about the function of RFID Guardian and how its system works (Faculty of Science).Data and identity theft The RFID tag user should be responsible for the information covered by his tag. He should definitely be in control of the information his RFID tag carries. The same goes for institutions and organizations. They, therefore, should allot resources for training their employees so that the organization as a whole would be able to comply with privacy and security guidelines.

They should limit the use of RFID in the disclosure of information by assessing their files and classifying them according to their relevance and confidentiality. Data including those of personal and confidential nature, and those data containing dispersible information, should be updated and accurate. This could prevent subsequent transfer of information using RFID tags from one system to another, which makes the information vulnerable to illegal attacks. There should also be consent from an individual concerned whether or not certain information about him can be disclosed from his RFID tag (Cavoukian, 2006).

Due to the important data stored in RFID tags, the technology attracts unauthorized individuals to invade somebody else's privacy. These illegally involved people can