GadgetCrowd

This is a story of a container at a major shipping port. This particular container is marked with an RFID tag, a label with a tiny embedded radio transmitter that broadcasts a short string of data–anywhere from 256 to 1,024 bytes. But in addition to this container holding fresh Florida oranges, its RFID tag holds a virus: an SQL injection code. As the container passes by the shipping port’s RFID reader, data from the contents of the container along with the malicious code are fed to the back-end database, corrupting if not crippling it. Now the port system is compromised. And as the container is washed and refilled and sent somewhere else, the malicious code (now a part of the RFID system) is also imprinted on other RFID tags on other containers, spreading the infection. Sounds like a cheap technothriller plot, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s the basis of a new research paper out of the Netherlands, and the implications could be huge.

RFID 101
By themselves, RFID systems are pretty simple. Items such as boxes in a warehouse receive an RFID tag. The short broadcasts allow RFID readers to inventory stock, passing that data on to larger databases elsewhere. Bar codes, the system currently in place, require someone to physically hold each item up to a laser scanner. By comparison, you can take inventory entire pallets of RFID-enabled dish detergent just by waving a reader in their general direction. Stores such as Walgreens and Wal-Mart currently use RFID technology to track inventory.

In addition to this container holding fresh Florida oranges, its RFID tag holds a virus, an SQL injection code.
RFID tags aren’t limited to warehouse merchandise. RFID tags are being used to authenticate customers at gas stations, eliminating the need to swipe a credit card at the pump. And RFID tags are currently being injected into pets, livestock, and even human beings for tracking purposes. Read on…