Shoehorning Security into the EPC Tag Standard

The EPCglobal Class-1 Generation-2 UHF tag standard is certain to become the de facto worldwide specification for inexpensive RFID tags. Because of its sharp focus on simple “license plate” tags, it supports only the most rudimentary of security and privacy features, and essentially none of the cryptographic techniques that underpin authentication and privacy-protection in higher-powered computational devices. To support more-sophisticated applications, the drafters of this standard envisioned the re-use of the basic air interface and command set in higher-class standards. We propose ways to incorporate mainstream cryptographic functionality into the Class-1 Gen-2 standard. Our techniques circumvene the intended modes of operation of the standard, but adhere closely enough to preserve formal compliance. For this reason, we use the term shoehorning to describe our layering of new security functionality on the standard.