"WIRELESS: Unclonable RFIDs Authenticate Electronic Fingerprints"

Counterfeiting radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags is possible today by cloning an exact copy of the chip inside the tag. To thwart counterfeiters, Verayo has invented "electronic fingerprints" that work like an electronic passport to make RFID tags unclonable. Look for transit passes and similar mass market applications of RFID tags in the next few years. R.C.J.


Cloning chips today involves reverse engineering their innards, then mass-producing them for applications where OEMs cannot tell the original from the clone. But what if chips had a physically unclonable function (PUF) inside—an electronic "fingerprint" whose unique characteristics could uniquely identify it? That would solve the counterfeiting problem with the electronic version of "biometrics," which is exactly the business of Verayo (San Jose, Calif.).


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