A Blockchain-Assisted Authentication Protocol for RFID-Enabled Supply Chain Management System

Abstract

In the dynamic domain of supply chain management, integrating Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology with blockchain technology represents a significant leap forward. This integration has created a blockchain-assisted RFID-enabled Supply Chain Management System (SCMS). With its ability to utilize electromagnetic fields to identify and track tags attached to objects, RFID technology has revolutionized product management and tracking within supply chains. SCMS transmits tracking and product management information through public communication channels. However, SCMS’s communication on these channels is vulnerable to various security attacks and privacy challenges. Numerous authentication protocols have recently been proposed to tackle these security and privacy challenges. Unfortunately, most protocols are susceptible to different security attacks, such as tag or reader impersonation, denial of service, physical cloning, desynchronization attacks, etc. Therefore, we have proposed an authentication protocol for an RFID-enabled SCMS that also leverages blockchain technology. The integration of blockchain technology ensures data integrity, immutability and transparency across each department involved in SCMS. In the proposed protocol, we also employ a Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) to secure SCMS against physical cloning attacks. We validate the security of the proposed protocol through both informal and formal analysis. The informal analysis confirms that our protocol significantly enhances security and efficiency. Moreover, a performance analysis of the proposed protocol against various competing existing protocols shows its superior performance. Notably, the proposed protocol substantially reduces computational and communication costs by 24.38% and 8.03%, respectively, which underscores its enhanced performance and resource efficiency.