Securing the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain using RFID

RFID technology has been applied to a number of applications. In [5], a protocol was described how to apply RFID to currency to provide integrity (e.g. reduce counterfeiting) while simultaneously supporting privacy. In this paper we discuss how RFID can be applied to increase integrity in the pharmaceutical supply chain. A secured pharmaceutical supply chain will increase integrity, improve consumer confidence, and aid regulators in tracking pharmaceutical products, thus producing a "pharmaceutical drug pedigree". At the same time privacy will need to be preserved. We provide an analysis of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and propose a security model for the system. Based on the model, we develop a protocol providing drug anti-forgery detection, auto-inventory, privacy protect sale, lawful tracking and authentication, smart medicine chest application, and secure and safe disposal [4]. A privacy enhanced technique [6, 8] is used to enable reliable lawful tracking.