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Smart Tags Vulnerable to Viruses
Techtree News Staff, Mar 16, 2006 1504 hrs ISTA group of researchers has developed the first ever RFID malware, demonstrating the vulnerability of RFID...
Seems even smart radio tags are not immune to computer viruses... or so says a recent study...
Led by Andrew Tanenbaum, a group of security researchers at the Amsterdam Free University developed the first ever RFID malware - thus demonstrating the vulnerability of the technology to malicious hackers.
The researchers said that this is intended as a wake-up call especially for makers of radio tag systems, to perk-up and introduce safeguards against RFID-borne bugs.
The group showed ways of getting around RFID tags, so as to use them to spread viruses and subvert corporate databases. They even created a virus for a smart tag - with 127 characters - in order to prove their theory.
The researchers warned that if viruses appear in smart tags, they will likely cause problems for companies that read data off these tags.
Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer, F-Secure, said that RFIDs with embedded computers are susceptible to basically all the threats that other computers are vulnerable to.
RFID tags are typically smart barcodes which replace familiar lines with a small amount of computer memory, a tiny processing unit, and a radio. Information is downloaded onto the tag and read off it via radio. Many large companies tend to use RFID tags to keep track of the goods they ship to and fro from their warehouses.
Led by Andrew Tanenbaum, a group of security researchers at the Amsterdam Free University developed the first ever RFID malware - thus demonstrating the vulnerability of the technology to malicious hackers.
The researchers said that this is intended as a wake-up call especially for makers of radio tag systems, to perk-up and introduce safeguards against RFID-borne bugs.
The group showed ways of getting around RFID tags, so as to use them to spread viruses and subvert corporate databases. They even created a virus for a smart tag - with 127 characters - in order to prove their theory.
The researchers warned that if viruses appear in smart tags, they will likely cause problems for companies that read data off these tags.
Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer, F-Secure, said that RFIDs with embedded computers are susceptible to basically all the threats that other computers are vulnerable to.
RFID tags are typically smart barcodes which replace familiar lines with a small amount of computer memory, a tiny processing unit, and a radio. Information is downloaded onto the tag and read off it via radio. Many large companies tend to use RFID tags to keep track of the goods they ship to and fro from their warehouses.
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