Thanks Sameer,

I wasn't sure if the PDA's were as secure as PC's. It seems they can be a
"weak-link" if they can't support all security.

Are PDA's/Smart card devices a security problem?
If they can run the encryption and authentication standards the network
requires then they aren't. (Some must be able to run the 802.1x - RADIUS,
EAP authentication then?)

And it isn't possible for them to use a PC as a secondary access point as it
can only be in 'ad-hoc' OR 'infrastructure mode'.

I think I've got it. If I'm wrong please tell me.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sameer Verma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "WLAN list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 9:45 PM
Subject: Re: [BAWUG] 802.11 devices


R. Simkins wrote:

>This may sound stupid but, can a PDA's and smaller 802.11 devices connect
>directly to an AP?
>
>
Sure. I have a Handspring Visor, and an iPAQ (used to run Win CE, but
now runs linux) that both talk to an AP with WEP enabled and disabled
(both modes)

>If so, do they have the same security capabilities as a laptop?
>
>
If the capabilities are tied to WEP, then yes. If you are looking for a
VPN type connection, there are a few PDAs that can do this. Others are
just too slow. If you are looking to do a captive portal like nocat, do
note that browsers on handheld devices don't work very well with browser
based solutions.  Nocat relies on a popup window that is opened via
Javascript. PDAs generally don't do popups. So, that solution fails
(supposedly, a cookie can be used to replace the functionality of a
popup, but I haven't seen it).

>If not, what are the security methods between them and the laptop?
>
I am not quite sure what the question is...are you comparing a laptop to
a PDA in terms of security, or are you asking about how a laptop
connects to a PDA and vice versa?

>
>Sorry, my noobiest question to date....
>
>
That's what lists are for.

>Rob (never owned, used or seen a PDA)
>--
>general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/>
>[un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
>
>

Sameer

--
Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor of Information Systems
San Francisco State University
San Francisco CA 94132 USA
http://verma.sfsu.edu/


--
general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/>
[un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless

--
general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/>
[un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless

Reply via email to