Internet Security Group: Security for Pervasive Computing Applications

Pervasive computing is the emerging field of applications for sub-PC
computing elements such as handheld PDA's and wireless phones. Applications in
this realm will require new security protocols and models due to factors such as
low computational power of client devices and the presence of intermediaries
which adapt content to fit the form factor of these client devices. We are
investigating various security protocols and primitives that will be appropriate
for applications running on small, computationally constrained devices.

Our activities in this area range from participation in standards bodies
such as the Wireless Application Protocol forum, prototyping security
models for applications such as the transcoding HTTP proxy.

- Suresh Chari, Matthias Kaiserswerth and J.R. Rao, WTLS Comments and
Recommendations, Wireless Applications Forum, July 1998.