• E-mail this page
• |  Print this page
• | 
• | 
• | 

RFID: Future Consumer-Data Battleground

In all the discussion of RFID's expected payoff in the areas of supply-chain visibility and real-time business processes, concerns over consumer privacy have been somewhat muted by promises that it will be a long wait before RFID finds its way into our homes in a big way. But find its way there it will, and when it does, there better be some pretty stringent security measures in place to keep our wallets and hidden shoeboxes from becoming low-hanging fruit in the eyes of hackers everywhere.

While it's not likely that an RFID tag embedded in a package of disposable razors is going to pose a whole lot of data-theft risk to consumers (we'll leave the privacy issues to another discussion), long-standing plans for RFID-enabled loyalty cards, credit cards, and passports, to say nothing of a potential national ID card, must have identity thieves drooling in anticipation.

Let's take loyalty cards, since they figure to get wrapped in less security than the more sensitive items mentioned here. Much of the talk about RFID in loyalty cards has revolved around the hotel industry and the desire to simplify check-in and streamline transactions while at a property. A loyalty card with a tag could be used to identify and check in a guest before he or she even walks up to the front desk (or a kiosk, for that matter), or charge his or her room for a meal or a gift-shop purchase. So what kind of data is behind a loyalty card? The usual name, address, phone number, and possibly E-mail address for starters. But depending on the comfort level of the guest in sharing data, not to mention the IT architecture that supports a loyalty program, it's possible a credit-card number could potentially be linked to that card. There could even be demographic data, such as income level, or personal preferences, such as favorite activities.

So would someone please offer me assurances that an enterprising identity thief--or even just a particularly ambitious phisher--couldn't drive through residential neighborhoods with RFID readers, zapping information from people's homes and then using it for nefarious purposes? I may be off my rocker here, but I believe there still haven't been enough assurances to date that can significantly ease such concerns. And what really scares me is that I'm not sure anyone can really offer any. All of which leads me to this not-so-happy thought: When it comes to consumer-data breaches, I'm convinced we're still very early in the curve.

« I'm Sticking With Travelocity Because Of Its Lousy Customer Service | Main | Per-Core Software Pricing For The Desktop? »