An Anti-counterfeiting System Using RFID Tags

Abstract

Counterfeiting is one of the most serious problems in the consumer market.One promising approach for anti-counterfeiting is to attach a low-cost Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) tag to the product for authentication.In this paper, we propose an RFID system for detecting counterfeiting tags and for preventing the widespread of them.Our system consists of two main protocols: the tag authentication protocol, and the database correction protocol.The essence of the tag authentication protocol is to authenticate the tag without revealing the its secret information.In order to do this, we present a sponge-based one-way function $F$ to be used in the protocol. This protocol also allows the customer (the reader) to freely inquire the tag.To prevent the widespread of the counterfeit tags, we use the tag status information along with tag identity information.The correctness the tag status is maintained by the database correction protocol.As well, our anti-counterfeiting system is the first work considering the the seller who plays an important role in the market supply chain.Finally, we show that anti-counterfeiting system is quite secure against counterfeiting, the tag authentication protocol is lightweight enough to be implemented in tags, and the usability for the customer is improved.