GPG on windows mobile 5

[Neil Williams]

On Monday 07 November 2005 9:24 am, cybx at gmx.net wrote:
> I've got a question about installing GPG on my newly acquired IPAQ rx 1950

Why not replace Windows with GNU/Linux by installing Familiar onto your iPAQ?

I'm running Familiar with GPE on a iPAQ HP3900. GnuPG is available as a 
package - pre-compiled and configured for Familiar.

http://www.dcglug.org.uk/wiki/?id=view/dist-reviews/misc/4

> I want to install a secure, mail encryption system 

GnuPG doesn't do the mail component, plus you have the usual problems with 
keeping a secret key protected whilst on a small, portable, device.

At least with a genuine GNU system on the device you can use sensible security 
mechanisms and have a truly security-aware kernel.

> that's for free and widely used -> GPG.

Don't confuse "for free" with "free software". The benefits of gnupg do NOT 
arise from the lack of a price tag but from the freedom to modify, copy and 
distribute the source code and compiled binaries.

> I still want to have GPG on my PDA, especially 
> because I think security issues are even more relevant on mobile devices
> than on Desktop PCs.

Don't forget the role of the OS. It's hard enough protecting the device, let 
alone the holes in windows mobile security.

I couldn't even logout on my iPAQ using WinCE and anyone with SynCE installed 
on their GNU/Linux box could read and write all my Windows data without ANY 
security intervention whatsoever. That would INCLUDE a gnupg secret key. I 
could copy / move it off the device or replace it with a different one - you 
wouldn't know. I'd only need 2 minutes alone with your Windows iPAQ.

At least with Familiar, you have an ordinary user with a login password, a 
root user with a root password and a login manager. SSH connectivity is 
supported (and can be secured further) and it has a genuine 2.6 Linux kernel 
with iptables support for a genuine firewall too. It's up to you how secure 
you make your Bluetooth support but it's only enabled after you login.

-- 

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.data-freedom.org/
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/

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