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Nokia mobile "has enough power for VPN security"

Nokia has embedded virtual private network features, including advanced "strong crypto" in the newest version of its Symbian-based Communicator 9210i - a combined phone/PDA launched at CeBIT.

As this site warned earlier, many pocket computers simply don't have the processing power to do serious crypto without slowing down to unacceptable levels. Nokia, however, claims that its 9210i will have the legs to run a full VPN client, with 3DES encryption, with acceptable performance for applications.

According to reporter Matt Loney at ZDNet, the Nokia announcement specifically pointed the finger at PalmOS devices as being strapped for processor power.

His story quoted Bob Grace, global vice president for Nokia Internet Communications, as saying that Nokia's VPN client will also support Nokia's own Challenge Response Authentication Cryptographic Key (Crack) encryption, which is currently before the IETF standards body. He also claimed the VPN client should work on other Symbian devices too. "But you will need to have a tool that can deploy policies and certificates to the clients on your network," ZDNet reported.