Is every RFID tag like a snowflake?

A problem faced by the RFID industry is counterfeit RFID tags. Since most tags are just a sort of substitute for a barcode or magnetic strip label, and encryption is generally not a viable (or even desirable) option, RFID tags could be counterfeited and used for nefarious purposes, which you can entail.

However, a new company called Verayo (an MIT spinoff company) has formulated an at least partial answer to this dilemma. They have come up with a process for getting a sort of electronic fingerprint from individual RFID tags. Since there are small, necessary variations in the chip material and manufacturing process, no two RFID tags are exactly alike. Even if they meet the same specifications, there are small artifacts in the way that they process signals, which can be measured. Professor Srini Devadas, CTO of Verayo, says,

A signal traveling through a simple circuit will go faster or slower depending on these physical variations. By sending a series of signals through, and measuring how fast they travel, [one] can generate a string of numbers unique to each circuit.

This is a great step toward building more secure RFID systems. Each RFID tag would, essentially, be personally trackable on an almost meta-level. Of course, this added layer of security would cost more money, so it would have to be employed in only a cost-effective manners. But if you're tracking things like medicines or very expensive consumer goods, it may be a good step. Maybe Lilly Drugs could have avoided this latest embarrassment!

Cisco Now Requires CCNA Certification For CCSP Certification

Some news about Cisco certification has recently come out. In order to gain a Cisco CCSP (Cisco Certified Security Professional) certification, an IT professional will have to have already CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) certification as a prerequisite. CCNA and CCSP classes may be taken back-to-back.

The thinking behind the decision seems to be that the CCNA ensures an IT professional has basic, entry-level knowledge of Cisco systems. Its curriculum highlights installation procedure, core security practices, troubleshooting, and network monitoring. It also gets into the basics of network security, such as data confidentiality. The CCSP certification represents a more advanced stage in an IT professional's career. It is supposed to demonstrate advanced knowledge, including network threat mitigation and infrastructure protection. Further, the CCSP certification emphasizes Cisco Router IOS (ISR) and Catalyst Switch security features, Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA), secure VPN connectivity, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), Cisco Security Agent (CSA), Security Enterprise and Device Management, and Network Admission Control (NAC).

The iPhone and Verizon: Rachel and Ross or Juliet and Romeo?

A pretty funny post from the Faster Times makes a startlingly apt analogy: The iPhone is the Rachel to Verizon's Ross. If you've never seen Friends (has it really been 16 years since the show debuted?!), Rachel and Ross were the perfect-for-each-other but always-missing-each-other couple that created a lot of the show's romantic tension during its ten year run. The analogy, while silly, holds up.

The iPhone is the 2,000 pound gorilla of smart phones (and phones, in general): Hate it or love it, you have to admit that its fast, steady adoption rate shows people are attracted to it. Whether it's the App Store, the phone's slick user interface, or the coolness factor, people are seduced by Apple's penultimate gewgaw. So why shouldn't the most popular phone be on the most popular network? You'd think it's a marriage made in heaven.

Brown, author of the article, posits that AT&T has simply continued to outbid Verizon. As (Fake) Steve Jobs himself points out, AT&T is certainly not spending its increasing profits on growing its network. Rather, while the company has been (since 12/2007) enjoying evenly increasing revenues since becoming the sole carrier of the iPhone, capital expenditures have remained stagnant. Operating income has remained level, as well. All this extra revenue is going somewhere--either into executives' pockets or into paying Apple back for the providing it an exclusive relationship with its iPhone (and now its iPad, as well). This relationship built around monetary kickbacks and exclusivity seems to contradict Brown's prediction that the iPhone will eventually hook up with Verizon. If Apple continues to receive the lion's share of AT&T's profits, then the increased sales it would see on the Verizon network may be rendered moot. After all, Apple has shown that its modern incarnation is pretty darn savvy. The iPhone and Verizon could be less Rachel and Ross and more Juliet and Romeo--seemingly destined for each other, but star crossed lovers all the same.