A study by the Federal Office for Information Security in cooperation with the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa).

As part of the project "Security Aspects and Prospective Applications of RFID Systems" (RIKCHA), a study was compiled in the field of pervasive computing. Research on pervasive (or "ubiquitous") computing deals with the integration of tiny processors and sensors into everyday objects as a means of making them "smart". While initial systems of this kind are already in use (in identifying animals and labelling waste bins, for example) and further concepts are being tested in the field (smart clothing labels, Metro's Future Store, etc), the ways in which these systems affect users' daily lives and information technology itself had hardly been examined at all.

The objective of the study in question was to identify the opportunities and risks involved in using RFID systems, including by documenting the use of RFID systems and making (limited) related predictions, highlighting specific fields of application, and presenting corresponding ramifications in the area of IT security.

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The results of the study were presented on 17 November 2004 at the Museum for Communication in Berlin.

All the presentations from the event are available (in German) in PDF--Portable Document Format:

• Security Aspects and Prospective Applications of RFID Systems

  • What is radio frequency identification?
    What issues arise from its use?
    Harald Kelter, Federal Office for Information Security
  • Structure and approach of the project
    Stefan Wittmann, Federal Office for Information Security

• Methodology of the study

  • Expert survey on the related threat landscape
  • Online survey on the development of RFID deployment
    Britta Oertel, Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment

• RFID -- Is everything secure?

  • Breakdown of related problems
  • Presentation of the threat landscape
  • Available security measures
    Prof Dr Lorenz Hilty, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

• The present and future of RFID applications

  • Logistics and more: how RFID is used today
  • Scenarios for the year 2010
    Michaela Wölk, Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment