The RFID Security Alliance holds a monthly open forum about topics related to securing radio frequency identification systems.  Attendees can dial in or, if in the San Francisco, CA area, attend in person.

April’s topic is “”RFID Journal LIVE! 2012: Highlights & Discussion.”

Neil Mitchell, the RFIDSA Vice-Chair, will lead a discussion of what happened at the recent RFID Journal Live! 2012 Conference in Orlando, FL.

Useful background information can be found from:

• RFID Journal’s Mark Roberti at http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/9413/1
• RFID 24-7′s John R. Johnson at http://www.rfid24-7.com/2012/04/03/innovation-on-display-during-rfid-live/ and http://www.rfid24-7.com/2012/04/04/rfid-its-about-saving-lives/.

Share your views with other RFID Security Alliance members on what you thought of the 10^th anniversary of this event and how RFID security coverage and products have changed over the last decade. If you didn’t make it to LIVE! this year, come and listen to what other people experienced.

The 4/18/2012 forum starts at 10 am PT/1 pm ET and will last about 1 hour.

To participate, email Anna.Haight@RFIDSecurityAlliance.org.  She will send you the dial in details and any slides.  If you wish to join in person, the physical location is QLM Consulting, Sausalito, CA.

We hope you can join us.

For more information, visit http://www.rfidsecurityalliance.org/upevents.htm

The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge has a Near Field Communications cluster special interest group. Their next event, being held with the RFID, Auto-ID & Sensing cluster, is the Third Annual Auto-ID & Sensing Solutions Expo on March 28, 2012 at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA.

SecureRF is one of 40+ exhibitors.  We will be demonstrating Veridify™, an authentication and anti-counterfeiting solution based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that quickly validates products through an easy-to-use smartphone application. Veridify’s secure NFC tag enables consumers and commercial users to confirm an item’s identity and optionally retrieve or collect additional data from Veridify’s cloud computing platform, using just a smartphone.  Learn more about Veridify.

Here is the agenda for the event:

4:00PM – Exhibits Open
40+ Tabletop Exhibits demonstrate how NFC and RFID offer compelling solutions that empower consumers, caregivers, retailers and the enterprise.

4:30-6:00PM – Panel: NFC Meet the Internet of Things looks at the synergy between RFID and NFC — contactless data interchange for mobile phones — in applications ranging from retail to healthcare.

6:30-8:00PM – Panel: Internet of Things: Two co-founders of MIT’s Auto-ID Center, where “The Internet of Things” was invented, look back at how far the technology has come and where it is headed.

9:00pm- - Meet for Drinks

I attended the MIT Enterprise Forum’s second NFC cluster meeting – NFC In Smartphones Transforms Healthcare – in February 2012 and was impressed by how much information was packed into the session.  My insights and links to the slides are at http://www.securerf.com/RFID-Security-blog/?p=437

We hope to see you the MIT Enterprise Forum’s March 28 event, over 400 people are expected.  Register now at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/auto-id-sensing-solutions-expo/.

It is always fun to share the news about a project you have been working on for a while.

SecureRF Corporation is pleased to announce Veridify™, an authentication and anti-counterfeiting solution based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that quickly validates products through an easy-to-use smartphone application. Veridify’s secure NFC tag enables consumers and commercial users to confirm an item’s identity and optionally retrieve or collect additional data from Veridify’s cloud computing platform, using just a smartphone.

The Veridify solution incorporates Public Key cryptographic methods, embedded in the NFC tag and in the smartphone application, to provide a full range of highly secure identification and authentication functions.  The embedded security methods also prevent copying or cloning of the associated tags.

Initial markets for the Veridify solution include pharmaceuticals, electronics, liquors, and luxury fashion goods that are often the targets of counterfeiters.  Consumers and manufacturers will be able to immediately verify the authenticity of a product containing a Veridify tag at any time. Companies can also use a customized version of Veridify’s cloud platform to support supply chain management, as well as track and trace functions.  Veridify tags can be incorporated into a variety of standard or customized form factors including under a label, within a component part, or in the actual product.

The full press release can be found at http://www.securerf.com/pdf/Press_release_Veridify_NFC_anti-counterfeiting_solution.pdf.

More information is coming soon on the Veridify website.

Want to learn more?  Email us at info@veridify.com

The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge has started a Near Field Communications cluster special interest group.  I attended their second NFC meeting earlier this week, along with at least 225 other people.  The theme was NFC In Smartphones Transforms Healthcare: with over 100 million NFC smartphones expected in service by 2012 and over 500 million by 2015, the impact on healthcare will be transformational.

Here are some observations from this event:

The NSF Cluster organizers packed a ton of content into a 3 hour event.  The agenda included:

• Professor Masanori Akiyama M.D., Ph.D. presented “NFC in Japan: National Project of Telehealth in Home Healthcare at Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications”
• Three brief technology presentations: NFC in sleep monitoring, pill monitoring/smart packaging, and smart NFC sensors
• A panel discussion with the technology presenters, four additional speakers and lots of questions from the audience

Most of the focus on NFC applications for smart phones has been related to payments.  Healthcare is still a small piece.

Gagan Puranik, an Associate Director at Verizon Wireless, felt that although NFC has been around for 8 years, we will see synchronization in 2012-2013.

From a software developer’s standpoint, building apps for NFC phones is frustrating.  Android has a development kit, but it isn’t full.  RIM has the richest dev kit, but it isn’t all turned on.  Microsoft will be releasing their dev kit later this year and Apple is still TBD.  But this is also an opportunity.  The framework for NFC that creates ubiquity hasn’t been created yet.  There is an MIT professor who is developing an easy to use NFC framework.  Once this is ready to share it will be a topic at a future NFC Cluster event.

The question of security and privacy came up, including HIPAA and the concern of hackers accessing medical data.  Most NFC tags have a 4 – 6 cm read range when accessed by NFC-enabled smart phones.  Puranik explained that the NFC tag must be within a few meters for hacking to occur.  He also said that there are two types of tags, with the two-way tags being more secure than the one-way tag.  Nick Holland, Senior Analyst at Yankee Group, said that for healthcare applications the security will be layered with some sort of pin or biometric system in the front and the data will be stored safely in databases using the same types of security functions as other computer systems.  He said the perception of security is going to be important.

Professor Masanori Akiyama M.D., Ph.D. gave an interesting presentation on a NFC-enabled home health care monitoring system in Japan.  Much of Asia is facing a healthcare crisis due to the aging of their population, increased medical care costs and health insurance deficits.  Many older Japanese live alone and don’t have support so until recently, the average hospital stay in Japan was 17 days.  This monitoring system allows health data to be collected at home thus allowing people to leave the hospital earlier.  Professor Akiyama explained the differences in the phone infrastructure between Japan and the US.  For example, a SIM card that can be obtained in Japan is usually a loan from the carrier and when a contract is canceled, it is necessary to return it.  Each unique SIM card can only be obtained by showing proper identification, thus preventing impersonators.  Professor Akiyama’s presentation slides contain lots of details.

View the slides from this event here -http://www.slideshare.net/mitefcmb/slides-for-nfc-cluster-feb-6-v3  (Link updated 4-17-2012).

The NFC Forum plans to hold a NFC hack-a-thon in the fall.

Their next event, being held with the RFID, Auto-ID & Sensing cluster, is the 3^rd annual Auto-ID & Sensing Solutions Expo on March 28, 2012 at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA.  SecureRF is one of 40+ exhibitors.  We hope to see you there, over 400 people are expected.  Register now at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/auto-id-sensing-solutions-expo/.

MEF is global trade organization for companies wishing to monetize their goods, services and digital products via the mobile connected device.  Earlier in the year they released their top 10 predictions for 2012 around mobile content and commerce.  I was pleased to see that their top 3 predictions overlap with the interests of SecureRF:

1. NFC:  2012 will be the year that the industry ‘gets’ NFC and there will be increased investment with some spectacular trials, but it will fail to have a significant commercial impact.

2. Security: Regulators worldwide will be brought face-to-face with the security challenges of in-app billing, and new regulations will emerge.

3. Privacy: As Smartphones and mobile connected devices continue to become more widespread, increasingly complex and diverse attitudes towards privacy will cause chaos in the industry.

It will be interesting to see if they are correct that NFC “will fail to have a significant commercial impact” in 2012.  I am feeling more optimistic about the activity related to NFC this year.

For example, in mid-December 2011, IMS Research reported that “the number of Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled phones shipped in 2011 totaled 35 million globally” and they forecast “that significant market events and the enablement of other cellular handsets will drive that number to nearly 80 million by the end of 2012.”

With that many NFC-enabled phones, there will be firms who will create goods, services and digital products that incorporate that technology.

View the full list at MEF reveals Top 10 Predictions for 2012.