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Calderoni et al. J Surveill Secur Saf 2020;1:106-18 Journal of Surveillance,
DOI: 10.20517/jsss.2019.01 Security and Safety

Original Article Open Access

Forge-resistant radio-frequency identification tags
for secure internet of things applications

Luca Calderoni , Dario Maio , Luciano Margara , Luca Spadazzi 2
1
1
1
1 Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, Cesena 47522, Italy.
2 Lab51 srl, Cesena 47522, Italy.
Correspondence to: Prof. Luca Calderoni, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, via
dell’Università, 50, Cesena 47522, Italy. E-mail: luca.calderoni@unibo.it
How to cite this article: Calderoni L, Maio D, Margara L, Spadazzi L. Forge-resistant radio-frequency identification tags for
secure internet of things applications. J Surveill Secur Saf 2020;1:106-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/jsss.2019.01
Received: 13 Dec 2019 First Decision: 1 Feb 2020 Revised: 10 Feb 2020 Accepted: 31 Mar 2020 Available online: 29 Oct 2020

Academic Editor: Michael G. Pecht Copy Editor: Jing-Wen Zhang Production Editor: Jing Yu

Abstract
Aim: Internet of Things (IoT) represents a key aspect within several application domains, and it enables growing
opportunities for both organizations and end-users. Radio-frequency identification tags are probably the most
relevant enabling solution for ubiquitous IoT systems and are often seen as a prerequisite for IoT itself. In this
study, we analyzed one of the most promising radio-frequency identification tags to determine whether or not it
represents a viable solution for secure IoT applications.

Methods: The study was conducted relying on an Android OS application developed within our laboratories, which
helped us to inspect the chip and describe its logical data structure. We studied the capabilities of the tag in
relation to the application protocol data unit it supports, and we described the cryptographic protocols with which
it is equipped.

Results: This tag is resistant to forging activities, and it also preserves confidentiality and authenticity on
exchanged data. We discussed several known privacy and security patterns that may be addressed relying on the
tag we focused on and we underlined some deficiencies concerning chip cloning attack. Again, secure dynamic
messaging and mirroring allow the surpassing of several privacy limitations.

Conclusion: In this paper we investigated the capabilities of the NT4H2421Gx tag. The deep Android inspection
performed on the tag showed that it represents an option to rely on when we need to design secure IoT
applications.

© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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