SkyTel Communications Inc. and Glenayre Technologies Inc.’s Wireless Access Group have teamed with Internet security technology provider V-One Corp. to implement an encryption security enhancement for two-way paging and pagers.
Corporate and government customers who want encryption, authentication and access control for their pager-to-pager, e-mail-to-pager and pager-to-e-mail communications must install V-One’s SmartGate 4.0 server-a product of its Virtual Private Network Internet security technology-on their networks.
They then must download the SecurePage client software onto Wireless Access’ AccessLink two-way paging devices or Motorola Inc.’s suite of 2-way FLEX pagers scheduled to begin shipping in October.
It’s a client-server solution, the client in this case being the pager. SkyTel’s network never “sees” the message.
When a paging customer wants to send an encrypted page, the user first enters the password on the pager so the pager knows it is to be an encrypted message. He or she then selects the recipient and sends the page. The message then is encrypted at the pager and is transmitted on SkyTel’s network to the SmartGate server.
The server verifies the destination of the message through its authentication database. The SmartGate server tracks all users on its authentication database and each SecurePage client is registered on it. Once installed, the pager and server then authenticate each other.
The server then decodes the page. If the message was meant for a colleague’s e-mail address on the corporate intranet, the server sends the message along to that address on the secure network. But if the message is intended for another pager on that account, the server re-encrypts the message, sends it back out on SkyTel’s network to the pager, where it is decoded and read by the user, who also must use a password.
If the message is initiated on the corporate e-mail account to a pager, it is sent to the server, which encodes it and sends it over the network to the pager.
Paging customers can continue to send and receive unencrypted messages with the solution to and from other users not authenticated on the server.
While the need for universal paging encryption is considered low, certain customers transmitting particularly sensitive information may opt for this extra level of security. Last year, two cases of paging message interception made national news. Messages sent between Secret Service agents and President Clinton’s staff were intercepted, but the act was considered nothing more than a prank.
More serious was a case in New York where a news agency called Breaking News Network was busted in a major pager cloning operation. The company somehow cloned pagers used by the mayor’s office and the police and fire departments, and then sold the information gained from them to local news organizations.
V-One said it will begin shipping SmartGate 4.0 and SecurePage on July 15 and now is accepting orders.
