Methods and Apparatuses to Secure Data Transmission in RFID Systems Against Eavesdropping

• US 20090214037A1
• Filed: 02/26/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Round Rock Research LLC
• Original Assignee: Keystone Technology Solutions, LLC
• Inventors: TUTTLE, John R.
• Application Number:
  US12/037,646
• Publication Number:
  US 20090214037A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/270
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0662 with particular pseudorandom sequence generator
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0891 Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/47 using RFID associated with sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/75 by polling or interrogating the sub-stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses to secure data transmission in a radio frequency identification (RFID) system and other Vernam-cipher based cryptography methods against eavesdropping. In one embodiment, a method implemented in an RFID system includes generating an encryption key using previously shared information and random information received in a current communication session and securing a communication in the current session using the encryption key.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a radio frequency identification (RFID) system, the method comprising:

communicating random information between an RFID reader and an RFID tag during the RFID reader interrogating the RFID tag;

generating an encryption key using previously shared information and the random information; and

communicating a message between the RFID reader and the RFID tag via encryption based on the key during the RFID reader interrogating the RFID tag.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the random information generating new shared information to replace the previously shared information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the new shared information is the generated encryption key.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the encryption key comprises the RFID reader and the RFID tag separately generating the encryption key using the previously shared information and the random information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the random information is generated and communicated between the RFID reader and the RFID tag without using the previously shared information;

and

wherein the generating of the encryption key comprises encrypting the random information using the previously shared information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the random information is generated and communicated between the RFID reader and the RFID tag without using the previously shared information;

and

wherein the generating of the encryption key comprises decrypting the previously shared information using the random information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the RFID tag randomly generating the encryption key;

the RFID encrypting the key using the previously shared information to generate the random information;

wherein the generating of the encryption key comprises the reader decrypting the random information using the previously shared information.

8. A radio frequency identification (RFID) system, comprising:

an RFID tag; and

an RFID reader, the tag to transmit random information to the reader in response to the reader interrogating the tag, the tag and the reader to generate an encryption key using a shared secret and the random information and to communicate a message via encryption based on the key.

9. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 8, wherein the RFID tag and the RFID reader use the encryption key to replace the previously shared information after the message encrypted using the encryption key is communicated between the RFID tag and the RFID reader.

10. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 8, wherein the random information is generated and communicated between the RFID reader and the RFID tag without using the previously shared information.

11. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 8, wherein the tag further comprises:

an antenna;

a transceiver coupled to the antenna;

a memory to store the shared secret; and

a controller coupled to the memory and transceiver, the controller including a random number generator and a key generator;

wherein, in response to a request received from the RFID reader via the antenna and the transceiver, the random number generator is to generate the random information for transmission by the transceiver as a response to the request, and the key generator to generate the encryption key using the random information and the shared secret stored in the memory.

12. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 11, wherein the key generator comprises a logic function to generate the encryption key from the random information and the shared secret stored in the memory.

13. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 12, wherein the logic function is to further encrypt the message using the encryption key for transmission by the transceiver and the antenna to the RFID reader.

14. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 12, wherein the logic function is to decrypt encrypted message, received via the antenna and the transceiver from the RFID reader, using the encryption key.

15. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 8, wherein the RFID reader further comprises:

a transceiver coupled to an antenna;

a memory to store the shared secret;

a processor coupled to the memory and transceiver to transmit a request signal to the RFID tag for the random information;

wherein responsive to the transceiver receiving the random information from the RFID tag, the processor is to generate the encryption key using the random information and the shared secret stored in the memory.

16. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 15, wherein the processor is to encrypt the message using the generated key for transmission to the RFID tag via the transceiver.

17. The radio frequency identification (RFID) system of claim 15, wherein the transceiver is to receive encrypted message from the RFID tag, and the processor is to use the key to decrypt the received encrypted message.

18. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, comprising:

an antenna;

a transceiver coupled to the antenna;

a memory to store a number; and

a controller coupled to the memory and transceiver, the controller including a random number generator and a key generator;

wherein, in response to a request received via the antenna and the transceiver, the random number generator is to generate a random number for transmission by the transceiver as a response to the request, and the key generator to generate an encryption key using the random number and the number stored in the memory.

19. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tag of claim 18, wherein the key generator comprises a modular adder to generate the encryption key from the random number and the number stored in the memory.

20. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tag of claim 19, wherein the modular adder is to further generate encrypted data using the encryption key for transmission by the transceiver and the antenna.

21. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tag of claim 19, wherein the modular adder is to decode a subsequent message, received via the antenna and the transceiver, using the encryption key.

22. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tag of claim 19, wherein the modular adder comprises a logic block to perform bitwise exclusive OR operations.

23. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, comprising:

a transceiver coupled to an antenna;

a memory to store a number; and

a processor coupled to the memory and transceiver to transmit a request signal to an RFID tag for a random number;

wherein responsive to the transceiver receiving the random number from the RFID tag, the processor is to generate an encryption key using the random number and the number stored in the memory.

24. The radio frequency identification (RFID) reader of claim 23, wherein the processor is to encrypt data using the generated key for transmission to the RFID tag via the transceiver.

25. The radio frequency identification (RFID) reader of claim 23, wherein the transceiver is to receive encrypted data from the RFID tag, and the processor is to use the key to decrypt the received encrypted data.

26. A machine readable media embodying instructions, the instructions causing a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader to perform a method, the method comprising:

communicating random information over a communication channel;

generating an encryption key using previously shared information and the random information; and

communicating over the communication channel a message via encryption based on the key.

27. A method implemented in a data communication system, the method comprising:

communicating random information over a communication channel;

generating an encryption key using previously shared information and the random information; and

communicating over the communication channel a message via encryption based on the key.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

dividing the message into a plurality of message blocks;

wherein the random information includes a plurality of random blocks corresponding to the plurality of message blocks;

wherein the encryption key includes a plurality of key blocks corresponding to the plurality of random blocks; and

wherein the communicating of the message over the communication channel comprises encrypting the message blocks using the key blocks corresponding to the message blocks.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the communicating of the random information and the communicating of the message comprise communicating the random blocks and the encrypted message blocks in an interleaving sequence with a subset of the random blocks interleaved between the encrypted message blocks and a subset of the encrypted message blocks interleaved between the random blocks.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the random blocks are equal to or longer than the message blocks in length.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the random blocks have a predetermined length;

a first key block is generated from a first random block; and

a second key block is generated from the first key block and a second random block.