BS ISO/IEC 29167-19:2019

What is ISO/IEC 29167-19 – RAMON security services about ? 

ISO/IEC 29167-19 is the nineteenth part of the multi-series standard that defines the Rabin-Montgomery (RAMON) crypto suite for the ISO/IEC 18000 series of air interfaces standards for radio frequency identification (RFID) devices. Its purpose is to provide a common crypto suite for security for RFID devices that can be referred to by ISO/IEC for air interface standards and application standards.  

ISO/IEC 29167-19 specifies a crypto suite for Rabin-Montgomery (RAMON) for air interface for RFID systems. The crypto suite is defined in alignment with existing air interfaces. 

ISO/IEC 29167-19 defines various authentication methods and methods of use for the cipher. A Tag and an Interrogator can support one, a subset, or all of the specified options, clearly stating what is supported. 

Who is ISO/IEC 29167-19 – RAMON security services for ? 

ISO/IEC 29167-19 on automatic identification and data capture technology is relevant to: 

• Software Engineers 
• Organizations that require software and systems support 
• Any entity responsible for data security 
• Organization providing security services  

Why should you use ISO/IEC 29167-19– RAMON security services ? 

The RAMON crypto suite permits two levels of implementation. The first level provides secure identification and tag authentication, while the second level extends the functionality by mutual authentication to securely communicate between Interrogator and Tag. 

ISO/IEC 29167-19 specifies the security services of a Rabin-Montgomery (RAMON) crypto suite. It is important to know that all security services are optional. The crypto suite provides a Tag authentication security service. 

ISO/IEC 29167-19 defines methods and requirements for automatically identifying and storing information for different applications, as well as cryptographic security services for enabling air interface communication. 

Overall, ISO/IEC 29167-19 describes the Ramon crypto suite, which enables you to identify bugs and errors during testing so that better products and user experiences can be created. 

What’s changed since the last update ? 

BS ISO/IEC 29167-19:2019 supersedes BS ISO/IEC 29167-19:2016, which is withdrawn and includes: 

• It was thought that the fixed RAMON key length (KE) of 1 024 bits for tag authentication, defined in the first edition of this document, would maybe not be sufficient for all future uses. The method proposed in this edition allows extending the length of the cryptographic RAMON key by discrete steps of 128 bits. Beyond the previously defined key length of 1 024 bits, key lengths of 1 152, 1 280,1 408, 1 536, 1 664 bits and beyond become feasible. The current method does not limit the possible key length in any way. The key length is only limited by the ability to send the cryptographic authentication response, which is of equal length to the cryptographic key, back to the interrogator. Allowing extended key length makes sure that the RAMON encryption is future-proofed and security can be improved as needed 
• Support for different key lengths in a generic approach, the mix function has been revised 
• Improvement in the readability and consistency of this document. The specification of the cipher and the description of the TLV record have been separated into independent subclauses 
• A new TLV-Structure, supporting data identifiers according to ASC MH 10, was added