RFID passport article in the UK's "Guardian" newspaper...

[Steve Schear]

At 09:41 PM 11/19/2006, Marcos el Ruptor wrote:
>>Nothing deeply new here, but interesting anyway...
>>
>>http://www.guardian.co.uk/idcards/story/0,,1950226,00.html
>>
>>Perry
>
>Yes, a very interesting article. I hope people upstairs will begin to listen
>sooner rather than later...
>
>I must repeat myself, but there is a solution already: VEST
>(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEST), a cipher/MAC/hash that is
>specifically designed by Sean O'Neil to be as fast [and small] as possible
>in hardware while being as slow as possible in software. It is physically
>impossible to optimize even the smallest of VEST ciphers to be less than
>1000 times slower in software than it is in ASIC. Not even with Intel
>pipelining. What it means is that ASIC based RFID and smartcard microchips
>become physically impossible to clone without the use of specifically
>manufactured ASIC microchips that would cost at least $1mln. Any
>reprogrammable chip (FPGA, eFPGA, ProASIC3 etc.) must carry the programming
>logic and would have to be at least 5x5 mm in size and would never pass as a
>clone. Even a low-end 1MHz RFID chip would require at least 1GHz software
>smartcard to emulate it. With the maximum 66MHz that exists today, we can
>sleep peacefully for much longer than those chips would last.

Assume that smartcard based passports will be used in the same way the 
current variety are, that is swiped in or placed near a contact or 
contact-less reader by the immigration officer within a meter or so of the 
passport presenter.  Why not create a relay chip that provides all of the 
expected interfaces to the reader but also uses a wireless link to a pocket 
ASIC carried by the passport presenter or someone else nearby with the 
necessary computational power.  I suspect such a relay chip would be much 
cheaper to design and manufacture than the real smartcard chip.  Could be 
really useful for other apps as well, I suspect.

Steve 

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