In recent years, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has captured the attention of manufacturing industries all over the world due to its sophisticated applications which include but not limited to high-speed inventory of items and efficient handling of materials. This article talk about rfid system components. Passive RFID tags – as opposed to the active ones, passive tags do not require a power source. Tags are activated wen they pass through a radio frequency field – the RF field produced by the antenna of the reader. Probably No. The tags are quite expensive, it becomes impractical to put tags on all of the items. This interface layer is used as a conduit between the RFID readers and hardware elements or devices such as desktop computers and laptops, that are capable of communicating with the readers and accepting information from it.
RFID tags come in three general varieties: passive, active, or semi-passive (also known as battery-assisted). Passive tags require no internal power source, thus being pure passive devices (they are only active when a reader is nearby to power them), whereas semi-passive and active tags require a power source, usually a small battery. RFID implants, like it or not, seems to be more of a reality with each passing day. The frequencies used for RFID in the USA are currently incompatible with those of Europe or Japan. Tags which are world-readable pose a risk to both personal location privacy and corporate/military security.
There are three different kinds of CXJ RFID tags based on their attachment with identified objects, attachable, implantable and insertion tags In addition to these conventional RFID tags, Eastman Kodak Company has filed two patent applications for monitoring ingestion of medicine based on a digestible RFID tag. Even thought we’re in the early stages of RFID tagging, you have to wonder what the long term implications will be. The initial objective for using RFID chips seems to focus around manufacturing, supply chain management.
The system we now live in is control happy, the rfid chip is just another way for big brother to keep track of us. It is not only bank cards which contain RFID tags, increasingly passports, identity cards & driving licences which hold vast amounts of personal data use RFID tags. With contactless cards a fraudster only has to touch a concealed RFID scanner against your back pocket with your wallet in it to get all the information they need to clone your card.
Although RFID enabled cards are only designed to work at close proximity to RFID readers there are many readily available scanners which can extend the range to several feet. There are many websites dedicated to detailing this scam and supplying the scanners and tutorials on how to do it. Cloning RFID cards is no longer the preserve of experienced cyber criminals, you can even buy the equipment and blank RFID cards on internet. Although the scanning and cloning of RFID cards is relatively easy there are a number of way to protect yourself from this emerging scam.
