Title: RFID security risks in supply chains: more than privacy

Authors: Simon D. Rihs

Addresses: University of Bern, Engehaldenstrasse 8, Bern 3012, Switzerland

Abstract: The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) in supply chains has received a lot of attention from academia and practitioners in the recent past. Due to important gains in efficiency and visibility in the supply chain, a widespread adaptation is expected to make RFID tags ubiquitous in the future. Thus far, the main criticism of RFID revolves around privacy problems. In this paper, we show that other security issues besides consumer privacy may arise, particularly in a supply chain. Analysed situations include open- and closed-loop RFID setups and the impact of different attacks on these setups. Building on this, we propose an RFID attack risk classification. Furthermore, we discuss the practical implications of these risks on supply chain operations.

Keywords: radio frequency identification; RFID attacks; attack risk classification; supply chain security; SCM; supply chain risks; supply chain management; privacy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2009.032484

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2009 Vol.3 No.4, pp.347 - 357

Accepted: 28 Aug 2009
Published online: 03 Apr 2010 *

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