Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications, The

Security

Keeping data private is a big issue for any wireless network. In the days of voice-only communications, the greatest worry was that an eavesdropper could listen in to a private conversation, as several members of the British royal family discovered when details of their affairs were splashed across tabloid newspapers. But mobile commerce makes security even more critical—if people are going to entrust their bank account to technology, it has to be secure.

Encryption

Digital mobile systems all provide security through some kind of encryption system. Data can be encrypted in many ways, but algorithms used for secure data transfer fall into one of two broad categories: symmetric and asymmetric. Both rely on performing mathematical operations, ...