Default Passwords for World Wide Packets/Lightning Edge Equipment

Wed Jan 13 18:45:42 UTC 2010

There seem to be a lot of misconceptions about RFID tags. I'm hardly
an expert but I do know this much:

RFID tags are generic, you don't put data into them unique to your
application.

All they are is a range of long serial numbers guaranteed to be
globally unique, like ethernet macs more or less.

You get an RFID tag, associate it with a piece of equipment, enter the
tag serial number and other info INTO YOUR OWN INVENTORY DATABASE, and
stick it on the equipment.

Then you can later use a wand which can retrieve the RFID tag number
at some distance, a few feet, think: supermarket checkout.

The big advantage of RFIDs is that you don't need line of sight access
like you do with bar codes, they use RF, radio frequency.

Think: anti-shoplifting tags, most of them are basically RFID tags tho
older ones don't have a unique id which is why they had to be
physically removed or disabled.

More modern anti-shoplifting systems wand the tag id (possibly via an
externally printed bar code because point of sale (POS) systems aren't
quite there yet) into the POS system so the anti-shoplifting exit
system can look it up to see if the item has been paid for.

A system which also used these to track equipment being removed from
an area or building would be a relatively straightforward plus.

It may not stop someone but it might know exactly what time it passed
out the door to help with any investigation, or in a more secure
environment one might have to mark the RFID tag as authorized to go
out the door via some security process, or at least associate its
leaving with a security badge or whatever id is used.

It's much better than sliced bread for some apps except that they make
for really lousy BLTs.

On January 13, 2010 at 11:23 lyndon at orthanc.ca (Lyndon Nerenberg (VE6BBM/VE7TFX)) wrote:
 > > Barry's right, for at least some scenarios. If I have an unauthorized somebody
 > > walking down the row with a wand in their pocket, the fact they have a wand in
 > > their pocket is the least of my problems.
 > 
 > Encrypt the data?
 > 

-- 
        -Barry Shein

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