A secure and efficient authentication protocol for passive RFID tags

Abstract

At the onset of the ubiquitous computing era, systems need to respond to a variety of challenges, in order to capitalize on the benefits of pervasiveness. One of the pivotal enablers of pervasive computing is the RFID technology which can be successfully applied in numerous applications. However, the interaction of such applications with sensitive personal data renders the need for assuring confidentiality a sine qua non. The native limitations in computing resources, i.e., computational power, memory etc, that characterize nearly all classes of RFID tags make the development of custom-tailored RFID security protocols a troublesome yet challenging task. In this paper we propose a mutual authentication protocol for low cost RFID tags and readers. We also demonstrate that our scheme is more efficient in terms of resource utilization on the backend server, and under identical conditions, more secure when compared with existing congruent protocols.