Securing all pagers V-One, SkyTel team to encrypt two-way paging network By Jim Kerstetter and John G. Spooner, PC Week Online 06.08.98 V-One Corp. and SkyTel Corp. are the latest vendors teaming up to make pager networks secure from hackers. V-One, of Germantown, Md., this week will announce a deal to provide encryption services to SkyTel's two-way network and Wireless Access pagers used in that network. The companies are looking to assuage security fears created by events such as last fall's breach of the Secret Service's presidential security detail. In that attack, a group of hackers using a PC, a police scanner and emulation hardware intercepted messages between Secret Service agents and posted them on the Web. IT managers don't yet see a dire need for more security for their pagers, though some believe better protection will increase the use of certain wireless devices. "Most of the time, pages going out to [employees] are not confidential," said Frank Nagle, IT application support manager in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s software services group, in Mountain View, Calif. "That's not to say that if you put encryption on [pagers], it will not open up new avenues of usage." With the introduction of its SmartGate 4.0 virtual private network server, which supports wireless networks, V-One hopes to encourage IT managers to take another look at pager security. Using the SmartGate 4.0 server and client software, called SecurePage, that runs on each pager, SkyTel will extend authentication and an RC4, 128-bit symmetric-key algorithm from RSA Data Security Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., to two-way pagers from Wireless Access Inc. SmartGate 4.0, located in SkyTel's Network Operating Center, in Washington, registers and tracks users. SecurePage enables users to authenticate themselves with a PIN. With cellular phones and pagers becoming ubiquitous, the number of vendors with security solutions for wireless devices is growing. Ericsson Inc., for example, is shipping security software, called Ericsson Virtual Office, which uses RSA encryption to create a secure data link into corporate networks, said officials in Research Triangle Park, N.C. And Nokia Corp.'s 9000 Communicator GSM phone uses RSA's BSafe 3.0 tool kit to allow Nokia users to establish an SSL-encrypted channel, officials said. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomot_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
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