Contact Memory Buttons and Nuclear Safeguards

Contact memory buttons (CMBs) are inventory tags, not securitytags. They have little or no built-in security and a number of easyto-exploit vulnerabilities. Using CMBs to make conclusionsabout nuclear theft or diversion, or for tamper detection, is thushighly questionable. There may be lessons here as well for radiofrequency identification devices (RFIDs), which are being consideredfor use in domestic and international nuclear safeguards.