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Wireless Security Fundamentals

  • Oct 19, 2001
As wireless data and mobile commerce proliferates, keeping that data secure becomes more important than ever. In this article, Bryan Morgan discusses the issues involved in protecting wireless software and data from intrusion.
Bryan Morgan is a veteran software developer and writer. As the founder of the Wireless Developer Network (http://www.wirelessdevnet.com/) and a writer for WirelessWeek.com and Wireless Internet magazine, he has reported on wireless technologies since 1999.

Introduction

One thing underlies all the rosy predictions about mobile commerce and ubiquitous wireless data networks: the assumption that data can be stored securely on devices, encrypted successfully over the air, and handled equally securely on the server. Unfortunately, however, rarely a month goes by when a researcher doesn't find a new security hole in a wireless technology being touted as the next great wireless economic engine. Because of the processing, memory, and battery-life requirements of mobile devices, traditional encryption techniques (which sometimes rely on powerful processors and large amounts of memory) also fall flat on wireless platforms, creating the need for wireless-specific security technologies. In this article, I'll discuss some of these security technologies as well as some of the problems that have been uncovered to date.

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