Exploring Authentication Protocols for RFID Systems in the Internet of Things

Abstract

The integration of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems into Internet of Things (IoT) networks has significantly expanded opportunities for real-time tracking, monitoring, and communication across domains such as healthcare, logistics, transportation, and smart cities. However, the resource-constrained nature of RFID devices combined with the dynamic, large-scale, and heterogeneous nature of IoT environments exposes these systems to critical security threats. Authentication, as the first line of defense, becomes essential in ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and trustworthiness. This study critically examines existing RFID authentication schemes tailored for IoT networks, focusing on approaches such as elliptic curve cryptography (ECC)-based methods, ultralightweight protocols, domain-specific frameworks, and novel paradigms including Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and user-assisted authentication mechanisms. A structured evaluation framework was applied to analyze resilience against common attacks, computational and energy efficiency, scalability, and the presence of mutual authentication. Simulated experiments further validated performance under varying network sizes and adversarial conditions. The results indicate that ECC-based schemes offer strong security assurances but introduce computational overhead unsuitable for low-end tags, while ultralightweight protocols excel in efficiency but face resilience challenges under advanced attacks. Application-specific solutions demonstrated superior performance in targeted domains, and emerging paradigms such as RF-Rhythm and PUFs introduced innovative alternatives that extend security beyond conventional cryptographic design. Hybrid approaches integrating blockchain and machine learning also showed potential in enhancing resilience, though practical limitations remain in constrained environments. The study concludes that adaptive, context-aware, and multi-layered authentication schemes will be critical to protecting RFID systems in IoT networks, ensuring secure and sustainable growth of these interconnected infrastructures.