Will Security Power M-Commerce?

M-commerce might be the carriage that will hold bundles of dollars for wireless carriers, but security is the horse drawing that carriage. At least that's the message wireless security vendors are sending.

As employees begin using wireless devices to access company e-mail and other corporate systems, corporations will have to address the need for corporate antivirus systems for the mobile users, said Alex Froed, EDS manager of wireless security initiatives (www.eds.com). He also said that when employees connect to corporate networks using their personal mobile devices, the security risks increase.

The risks will be similar to those companies experienced when computers gained popularity and employees began accessing corporate networks from their home computers. Froed suggested such realities will lead to new kinds of wireless security solutions in the future.

Tomorrow, wireline security solutions will be extended to wireless devices, he said. There will be demands for public-key infrastructure on all wireless devices as well as device-independent smart cards. Wireless biometric services will emerge as a common solution, he added.

According to Paul Healy, Verisign vice president of wireless services (www.verisign.com), three security components will build consumers' trust in the safety of using wireless devices for transactions. The security system must be able to verify the identity of the user, allow payments and validate transactions that have been completed.

With these security components in mind, Healy listed four enablers of m-commerce:

• A core authentication infrastructure to verify that the authorized user is making the transaction.

• Wireless payment-processing systems that make it possible to use wireless phones as point-of-sale terminals.

• Universal addressing systems that connect multiple wireless devices through a single telephone number.

• Wireless keypad mnemonics that make the entry of data easier for consumers.

These elements of security are fundamental to gain consumer trust, according to Steve Fleischer, Sonera (www.sonera.com) vice president of investor relations and corporate communications. Like Healy, he listed privacy, the ability to authenticate users and the ability to verify transactions as crucial in gaining public confidence in the security of performing wireless transactions.