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To: The Phoenix who wrote (38973)	2/6/2000 9:08:00 PM
From: Captain Jack	Respond to of 45548

Copyright :Investor?s Business Daily Title :Computers Made Plain - As Hand-Held Devices Proliferate, Attention Turning To Security Issues By Paul Korzeniowski Investor's Business Daily In the rush to boost productivity, companies may unwittingly open their network doors to unwelcome intruders. Every day, employees use small hand-held devices - wireless phones, pagers, personal digital assistants or wireless terminals - to transfer information to corporate networks. These exchanges take place with few, if any, security checks. "Companies often put new technology in place without thinking through the potential ramifications," said Diana Hwang, an industry analyst with International Data Corp. Gear makers are delivering smaller, more functional hand-held devices, and firms are gobbling them up. In 1999, 3.7 million hand-helds were sold, an increase of 42% from 1998, IDC says. Size, Price Issues Many of these devices are sold without any security features for a couple of reasons. "A hand-held's small size means that a security vendor has to condense functions found in PCs dramatically," said Michel Ranger, vice president at Entrust Technologies Inc., a Plano, Texas, security company. "That can be a significant challenge." Security software relies on complex algorithms that need significant processing power, something many small devices lack. Cost is another consideration. Consumers are willing to pay $200 to $900 for the small devices. Adding encryption functions increases the price by $50 to $150, a step device makers have been unwilling to take. But changes in how people use hand-held devices are increasing the need for security. "To date, hand-held systems have been used mainly for information retrieval, checking stock prices and those sorts of things," said Richard Depew, vice president of worldwide sales and business development at Certicom Corp. in Hayward, Calif. "Increasingly, users are sending as well as receiving data." Banks see hand-held devices as convenient tools for customers entering account information, while retailers use them for electronic-commerce. Brokers know their clients want to buy and sell stocks as well as view quotes via hand-held devices. All of these applications require a high degree of security, and companies are moving to deliver it. Securing Hand-Helds Certicom develops encryption technology for small devices. The company's cryptography minimizes a system's power and bandwidth requirements so encrypted data can flow over wireless links. The firm delivered a version of the secure sockets layer security standard, or SSL, for the Palm VII, the leading hand-held device from 3Com Corp.'s Palm Computing unit. SSL secures both ends of a connection. But it doesn't verify that senders or receivers are who they say they are. So security companies have been adding identification features to hand-held devices. In November, Entrust Technologies outlined plans to extend its security services to wireless devices. The products are designed to ensure confidentiality for transactions between mobile devices and e-commerce sites and to let mobile users access company systems, such as order-entry applications. RSA Security Inc. of Bedford, Mass., developed a version of its SecurID security software for Palm models. The security system continuously generates security tokens on hand-held devices and works with a computer server designed to positively identify users and prevent unauthorized access to networks. "Now that information technology departments have selected their hand-held hardware and software," IDC's Hwang said, "they are turning their attention to better managing those devices, and security is playing a major role in this transition."