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A new public website designed to be a one-stop shop for network administrators and IT managers that lists potential threats to wireless networks and lists ways to protect against them has been announced by Network Chemistry Inc. Wireless Vulnerabilities & Exploits (WVe) features descriptions of listed threats and, with the input of the site's editorial board, steps on how to keep them away from networks. According to the site's administrators, anyone can submit a threat listing to the editorial board, who then review it and post it live to the site if they deem it credible.

The threats are classified in two ways:

• Vulnerabilities—defined as a piece of a system or protocol that can be exploited to use the system in manner other than it was designed for. Examples include an unauthorized entity to pose as an authorized entity or information from authorized entities to be intercepted by or disclosed to an unauthorized entity

• Exploits—a technique, such as a program, piece of code, set of steps, or hardware device, which takes advantage of one or more vulnerabilities.

Just before taking off on a short flight (30 minutes) from Amsterdam to London, tech columnist Peter Cochrane recounts a story of how a passenger was caught smoking in the bathroom and was subsequently arrested. There were notices all over the terminal that smoking was not allowed, but the passenger, who Cochrane describes as a "miscreant [who] has the complexion, dress and look of a potential bomber." Cochrane, who notes that he flew out of Boston on September 10, 2001 and passed through all of the bomb sites in London early on July 7 of this year, admits feeling he may be on a "converging disaster timeline." In other words, he's suffering from a fit of paranoia.

After thinking about what happened with this passenger on this particular flight (he actually advocates that the "miscreant" be dealt with in a "Biblical style"), Cochrane thinks that RFID would be a useful technology to screen all bags, clothing, purchases, and belongings besides documents and passports.

It's actually not a bad thought to leverage RFID technology to supplement airport security. Possibly baggage tickets could have RFID tags implanted in them along with boarding passes. I'm sure there's a myriad of logical ways to use RFID in this instance. But paranoic overreactions like this will certainly drive privacy advocates and other RFID opponents to step up their efforts to keep the technology from ever hitting any kind of mainstream usage. Obviously, the passenger shouldn't have done what he did, but there's no need to go to extremes.

It looks like RFID technology may enter your home entertainment realm. TiVo Inc. has filed a patent application for a personal video recorder (PVR) that recognizes viewer preferences through an RFID chip embedded in clothing, jewelry or "inserted somewhere [in] the user's body." (That's an interesting statement!) According to the company, the system would have a remote control designed to recognize the viewer's RFID tag closest to the PVR. The remote control identifies and notifies the multimedia device through the RFID chip in the person's clothing or body to tailor the media content to their preferences.

In other words, what you wear may ultimately decide what you watch. Hmmm…does this mean special outfits for particular shows? If I wear a replica football jersey, the TV will immediately tune to a football game? Or if I wear tattered jeans and a t-shirt I'll be switched over to "Lost"?

A new study from Bearing Point Inc. and the National Alliance for Health Information Technology indicates that RFID is making inroads in large healthcare organizations, with the technology being used in areas including medical equipment tracking using real-time location systems; patient safety systems such as for identification and medication administration; patient flow management; access control and security; supply chain systems; and smart shelving. In addition, spending for RFID deployments are expected to increase dramatically by 2007, with the major factor being that the technology will help organizations better achieve their business goals.
 
Key findings from the study include:

• Improvement to patient safety was cited as the top benefit for RFID by nearly 70 percent of respondents, with improved patient flow and general productivity ranking second, each cited by 48 percent of respondents as "very important."

• Less than 20 percent of respondents plan to spend more than $250,000 on RFID in 2006 and 53 percent plan no spending at all. But nearly 74 percent anticipate investment in RFID by 2007 and nearly 39 percent anticipate spending $250,000 or more on the technology in 2007 and 2008.

• Large organizations plan to spend considerably more — between $1 million to $5 million on RFID in 2007-2008.

• 60 percent of respondents said they have delayed some RFID activities while they wait for industry or government guidance on standards.

Is your life based around the Sony Playstation Portable? If so, then our new blog, PSP Fanboy, is for you. 'Nuff said.

As we get set to gather with our friends and families today, let us give thanks for what we have and remember those who have sacrificed so greatly for us. We thank you so much for your continued reading of this blog and we look forward to a wonderful holiday season.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Just got an e-mail from Timo Arnall, a lecturer at the Oslo School of Architecture, about the Touch Project that looks at the visual link between information and physical things by leveraging Near Field Communications (NFC) and RFID technology and mobile phones. The project covers areas including social communications, public services, and retail services and marketing and explores the concepts of transfer and exchange, RFID tags as gifts, and "wayfinding." It's a very interesting project, and worth a look.

According to Jack Shandle, the Unites States Army is leveraging an ultra wideband/RFID system to track troop movement in mock combat situations. The system is currently being tested in Fort Benning, Georgia. For example, as soldiers engage in urban warfare, their RFID Ubitags are sending out tracking data to command posts. Interesting stuff…

This certainly will stoke the fires of those folks who convinced that RFID technology can be easily abused. At last week's TechBiz Connection event, a number of analysts say that RFID contains a number of security risks that companies must shore up by using protocols such as secure shell and secure socket layer. As has been detailed in the book Spychips as well as other communications by privacy rights groups and others opposed to RFID, hackers could possibly tap into wireless networks to steal ID and other sensitive information.

In May 2001, IBM filed a patent application called "Identification and Tracking of Persons Using RFID-Tagged Items" which detailed the company's strategy to track people who have purchased RFID-tagged items from a store and then track the person either through the store or "other areas." The application then discusses how the tags can be used to identify a person's demographic status. Here's an excerpt:

...instead of determining the exact identity of the person, some characteristics such as demographics (e.g., age, race, sex, etc.) about the person may be determined based on certain predetermined statistical information. For example, if items that are carried on the person are highly expensive name brands, e.g., Rolex watch, then the person may be classified in the upper middle class income bracket. In another example, if the items that are carried on the person are "female" items typically associated with women, e.g., a purse, scarf, pantyhose, then the gender of the person can be determined as a female.

Basically, the idea is to track a person from the moment he or she walks into the store, buys the item, walks out of the store, and then comes back to repeat the process.

As this article from Internet News indicates, it's good to be in the RFID business these days. Beginning on New Year's Day, Wal-Mart is requiring that their suppliers must tag their goods before they hit their stores. And of course, those suppliers will be seeking out vendors to help them tag these goods. In addition, the Department of Defense is requiring the tagging of all supplies (except liquids) bound for Iraq. Again, vendors have a major business opportunity here. Simply put, RFID technology has been gathering steam and should be a major technology to follow in 2006.

Our fellow Weblogs Inc. blogger Ted Wallingford is putting out a call for folks who are interested in contributing to our blog on all things VoIP, voipfan.com. If you think you've got what it takes to join this great organization, click here for more details.

If you think you can outsmart a casino, don't bet on it. An agreement has been struck between Gaming Partners International Corp. and Galaxy Resorts to supply over 600,000 RFID gaming chips to casinos that will be opening in Macau, China next year. (Didn't know they allowed gambling in China!) This is an example of an emerging trend whereby casino are using RFID to stop gamblers from cashing in counterfeit gaming chips and to stop cheaters at various table games.

Stories about the potential for a bird flu pandemic certainly has us all concerned about what steps will be taken to keep contain the virus and stop it from spreading. Smart-tek Solutions says it will be using it's RFID monitoring and surveillance technology in an attempt to limit the spread of bird flu in Asia. In this situation, they will use RFID tags to count and document birds and also track poultry movement as well as logging inspection dates. 

At this point, anything that can be done to contain the virus is a positive step. Paranoia is slowly creeping in and this is as good a time as any to leverage cutting-edge technology besides creating new gadgets and tracking boxes in warehouses. This seems a lot more important…