RFID Cryptography

The RFID technology and its related security aspects are a hot discussed topic. Our research activities in RFID security focus on the aspects of electrical energy, data transmission and cryptography: how much energy can be transported wireless to a passive RFID tag? Which computing complexity can be supported and realized inside a passive RFID tag? Which cryptographic algorithms can be integrated? Which level of security can be reached? Under which conditions is it possible to realize digital signatures on passive RFID (ECC) tags?
Our research showed that the generation and verifi cation of digital signatures based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is possible even when the wireless distance is much larger than supported by wireless smart cards. We also analyzed the possibility to implement digital signatures giving message recovery. These algorithms provide the integration of a short message within the digital signature. A successful verifi cation of the signature will recover the clear text of the signed message. It is assumed that the messages which have to be signed by the RFID tag are short, for example passport data, currency note identifi cation or ticket information, so that they can be completely integrated in digital signatures of the type "giving message recovery".