User perception of the security & privacy concerns of RFID technology

The adoption of wireless technologies has undergone unprecedented growth, beginning with cellular devices and now including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. A relative newcomer to this domain is RFID, a shortwave communications technology capable of tagging almost any physical item. Unfortunately, as with all wireless technologies, RFID based technologies face a range of security and privacy threats. Indeed, many RFID systems completely lack any security or data protection provision whatsoever. This paper presents a survey into the end user perception towards security and privacy of RFID technologies in order to establish the level of understanding and concern towards its adoption. Noticeably, users are very responsive towards the use of wireless technologies and RFID in particular, however, only to the point at which their privacy is not negatively affected. 93% of respondents considered their privacy to be important. The survey established users do have a some appreciation of security and privacy but encouragingly are also aware of limitations in this respect and are eager to learn more.