SecureRF Corporation has developed a commercial-strength security solution to address passive and active radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. Its solution is several thousand times more efficient than any currently available commercial security system and can address other resource-constrained environments including smart cards and wireless devices. Initial target markets for SecureRF include applications for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and high-value supply chains.

“Our team of mathematician-cryptographers has developed a linear-based security method that provides a complete solution to protect passive and active RFID tags,” said Louis Parks, president and CEO of SecureRF. “Our first filed patent includes our foundational Algebraic Eraser” that cloaks and then erases components of our process making it very hard to attack.”

“Effective security within simple processing environments like RFID is one of the great challenges to the cryptographic community,” said Tim Dierks, former CTO of Certicom and board member of SecureRF. “SecureRF has a solution that makes it possible to secure high-value supply chains and high risk environments found in defense and homeland security using current reader and tag technology.

“Developers and end-users of RFID-based solutions recognize the need for effective security within their applications, but until now, there has not been a practical and workable solution.”

Many commercial markets are turning to RFID technology to help improve the integrity and efficiency of their supply chains.

The company can provide a complete solution that includes authentication, protection, and repudiation of the readers and tags. All methods run in linear time and employ highly non-linear operations in a non-commutative infinite monoid making for extremely high security, low power consumption, and a small footprint critical to fitting on a passive RFID tag.

In order to work within the space and time constraints of a low resource environment the SecureRF team developed the Algebraic Eraser, the engine within the SecureRF protocol. The Algebraic Eraser combines abstract algebraic methods with number theoretic techniques. Algebraic security of payload messages or exchanged keys is the most important notion of security. It means that an adversary restricted to algebraic operations can never get the entire considered object into its knowledge set — ensuring strong security. In contrast, most current commercial security methods are only number theoretic (i.e., use factoring and primes) however there are a few security protocols that are algebraic in nature.