RFID Attacks: Tag Application Attacks

This chapter discusses man in the middle (MIM), chip clones - Fraud and Theft, tracking: passports/clothing, and disruption. A Man in the Middle (MIM) attack is an attack angle that takes advantage of the mutual trust of a third party, or the simultaneous impersonation of both sides of a two-way trust. MIM attacks are unknown parties in a communication, who relay information back and forth, giving the simultaneous appearance of being the other party. RFID is particularly susceptible to MIM attacks because of its small size and low price. Most RFID technologies talk to any reader close enough to read the signal. RFID is not a high-tech bugging device. It does not have Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality or the ability to talk to satellites. At its base, RFID technology is a new, high-tech version of the bar code. The difference is the identification of items. RFID makes it so that it can be read at a distance, without a line of sight. The tag attached to an item, pallet, or case, is a reference identifier only.