Jefferson's Wheel

EETimes and RFID-world.com published an op-ed piece by me that discusses the current lack of security in NFC cell phone standards.

Near Field Communication (NFC) phones automatically exchange data with other phones and objects in their vicinity. These phones are the latest example of a new technology developed with a strong focus on potential applications, but without sufficient thought to security and privacy concerns.
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Adding sound security and privacy protection will slow down the deployment process and most likely increase the cost. Perhaps, security has this intrinsic cost that cannot be avoided as long as technologies create new incentives for thieves. NFC phones will attract misuse and computer fraud unless strong protection is included as a mandatory part of the NFC standards, similar to e-mail that promised simple, cheap, world-wide communication for everyone, but is now spoiled for many by spam, viruses and phishing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm and is filed under Privacy, RFID, Security.