RFID Chips Can Transmit Viruses, page 1

Long viewed as a threat to the privacy of the general public, scientists have discovered that, contrary to their previously held beliefs, RFID chips can be infected by viruses and can transmit those viruses to databases using RFID software. While the cost of producing the chips is still too high to facilitate their wide spread use, their use is growing and the prices are expected to fall rapidly in the near future. This news is expected to usher in a new wave of database programs which incorporate anti-virus technologies to protect critical data.

www.msnbc.msn.com
Cheap radio chips that are replacing the ubiquitous barcode are a threat to privacy and susceptible to computer viruses, scientists at a Dutch university said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Amsterdam's Free University created a radio frequency identity (RFID) chip infected with a virus to prove that RFID systems are vulnerable despite the extremely low memory capacity on the cheap chips.

The problem is that an infected RFID tag, which is read wirelessly when it passes through a scanning gate, can upset the database that processes the information on the chip, says the study by Melanie Rieback, Bruno Crispo and Andrew Tanenbaum.

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Not much that I have heard about RFID chips has caused me much concern insofar as I'm not overly concerned with my personal privacy. However, this news has far-reaching implications for almost everyone. No matter how much you hate WalMart, the very idea that an infected RFID chip could destroy the company's inventory database could have horrible consequences for the national economy and even more so when that threat is multiplied times all the companies who could be targeted on a single day by techno-terrorists. I think such things are not a current risk, but if nothing is done, in a decade or so, the collective corporate databases could prove to be a house of cards.

Related News Links:
news.com.com
www.spychips.com
www.spychips.com
en.wikipedia.org

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
NEWS: Big Brother Could Soon Be Watching You
NEWS: California Elementary School Institutes Mandatory RFID Chips - Parents Outraged
How I think RFID implants will be introduced in the UK - and why everyone will accept it.
Department of Homeland Security promises never to use RFID chips

[edit on 2006/3/21 by GradyPhilpott]

[edit on 26-3-2006 by asala]