Cloning Prevention Protocol for RFID

Abstract

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an emerging area under ubiquitous computing. RFID benefits include multiple read/write, longer read range and no requirement for line of sight. Due to security and privacy issues, RFID is not as popular as it should be. Tag cloning is one of the biggest threats to RFID systems. Easy access to RFID tags allows an attacker to replicate the tags and insert duplicate tags into the system. An RFID tag cloning attack can lead to access control or financial frauds in areas like supply chain management and government issued IDs.

In this thesis, a cloning prevention protocol is proposed. It uses light weight functions such as Pseudo Random Number Generator (PRNG) and compare function. A 3-way handshake with a secret key, frequency hopping mechanism and dynamic fake ID makes this protocol a secure authentication mechanism.