il38694

Originally Posted by polishreuben

after spending weeks+ searching, all of that good soft works on 2003, not on WM5.

May I ask what software on 2003 meet your security requirement? Why not just go back to 2003?

polishreuben

I have never been using 2003; I got a few days ago x51v. Just do a research on google for - pda security, and tons of stuff pops-out. One that was standing out was PDA defense. Another very neat one was Signwise with biometric signature ( however I haven't tried any of them, so confirm that this is what I want ). Microsoft Mobile website has references to different appz - all of them for wm3. Look for pocket pc awards on google - there is a site that has best security soft for PPC - all of them for wm3..

solara

@polishreuben

What you are looking for is the PPC equivalent of a whole-disk encryption program if you want to only have to enter one password and then the program automatically decrypts your encrypted data, to be accessed by whatever program you want. I don't think that exist.

But I'm not sure why you are not giving Sentry CE a try - it's a volume-based encryption program that should do what you want, except that it requires one extra step, and that is to mount the encrypted volume.

I think you misunderstood how the program works. With an encrypted volume, it's basically a file that will become a volume once it's decrypted with a password. Once you unlock the file with your password, it will then appear as another storage card. This volume can then be accessed by any program. I haven't tried it, but I would think ActiveSync should be able to sync data to the encrypted volume ONCE YOU UNLOCK IT. You just have to set up ActiveSync to sync to the virtual storage card when it's unlocked.

Sure, it's one extra step, but you're not that lazy to get the security you want are you?

smacmillan

More on the difficulty (not) of unlocking Sentry CE, if you read the documents on the Sentry site you'll find instructions for command line switches. It's fairly straightforward to set up a link in your \windows\startup folder that automatically loads Sentry and mounts the encrypted folder at boot.

For instance I have a 250 meg encrypted folder on my SD card called Crypto and have stored the key for that on the Axim. (Splitting the location - key not on the SD card gives a high level of security. The key winds up being encrypted/protected by native WM5 encryption.) In my startup folder I have this shortcut (password deleted here): \Program Files\Sentry\Sentry.exe mount /volume "\SD Card\Crypto.raw" /key \Crypto.key /password *******

Works like a charm and, as long as I keep my Axim password-protected, quite secure.

So I find a "My Documents" folder in my (virtual) Crypto drive and anything I store there is safely encrypted.

polishreuben

smacmillan, and solara thank you. I might have misunderstood the Software. I am going to give it another try. Smacmillan - what do you mean by saying " by native WM5 encryption " How does WM5 encrypts anything and when ? Is there anything around as far as reading about that ?

polishreuben

Ok, after trying it for another 20 minutes..

I think there is a problem with it Sentry vs ActiveSync . I am a total newbie about Windows Mobile, so I might be wrong - but I just got hold of an article about Active Sync, and from what I understood it says that active sync will only sync files in or in the subfolders of "my documents". Now Sentry won't create a virtual drive under "my documents" but rather in the root.

My setup works great(?) now. I can change entry in the database file on my computer, and it will be sync to the folder on the PDA. Again the excel file will be unprotected - open for anyone, unless I manually copy it either to:

1) Root, where Sentry created the drive
2) Encrypt it with Resco file explorer

I may be wrong about the "won't do" sync besides "My Documents" and subfolders. If there is a possibility of mounting the drive in My documents or getting Axim to sync files besides the MD folder – we could have problem solved, and I would send a pack of beer to the winner ;)

EDITED: I am reading about this on Sentry website:

"Many Palm-size PC and Pocket PC applications can only work with files located in "My Documents" folders in main memory or on storage cards. These applications require "My Documents" folder inside Sentry folder. Pocket Word, for example, will create it automatically when you use "Save As" or "Rename/Move" command and specify Sentry folder as the file location."

.. but I don't get it!! So what, they want me to create "My Documents" folder inside the virtual drive? ActiveSync won't pick it up anyways! Right ?

smacmillan

Polishruben:

My understanding (someone will likely tell me I have my head up my #@#*$) is that MS encrypts its own ROM-contained folders (including My Documents) when password protection is used. If I have that right, whatever you've stored in *that* My Documents folder is secure -- if you set up a password. But that protection is rather limited given the memory constraints on the native "My Documents" folder.

So the stuff in the native "My Documents" folder is reasonably protected if a password is used. And ActiveSync syncs *that* folder with your PC. On the other hand, anything on an SD or CF card is unprotected unless something like Sentry is used and, even if it's encrypted, you'll need some manual process to copy to/from your PC. I likely confused you by referring to the "My Documents" folder (that I manually created) on my encrypted drive. It doesn't automatically get sync'd with anything.

So much for the difficulties -- they aren't that bad. Assume that you've created an encrypted folder on your SD card. I'll call it "Crypto" here; your choice is your own. Once you 'mount' that encrypted folder it shows up as a drive -- both with WM5 tools (explorer or Resco) and when the PDA is "explored" from your PC.

So assume a mounted encrypted folder on your SD card. Place your PDA in your sync cradle and then click "explorer"; then *right* click "My Windows Mobile-Device" and choose "explore" -- the folder tree that you see shows Crypto (or whatever) as a drive. You can copy to/from the PDA and from/to any PC folder using native Windows Explorer.

Sounds like a pain but, once you've done it once, it's a snap. You can create sub-folders in that encrypted virtual drive and sync them manually.

You're right that the auto encryption to SD and auto sync senario that you describe would be ideal. But it's not here yet. The above is manual, but it'll do the job that you want.

Cheers

polishreuben

Smacmillan - according to bhds who posted stuff on page 1, WM5 does not encrypts anything. It password protects access to the system but doesn’t encrypts any files. It makes sense to me, because in the history of windows system, nothing was automatically encrypted besides sams ;) ( and other psw files ) – as far as user files.

However, yes you are right. I can do it manually, yes, manually I can do that in many ways. Sentry is a good way of having transparent encryption, for sure, but as you concluded - you still have to do it manually..

I am a big maniac of making stuff working on its own. I have pc box set up to run certain software to clean it during night, defrag, AV, adware - move downloaded files with different extensions to their folders, clean temp files.. I mean when I sleep my computer does lots of work. That's why I like to set things up and let it run.. And I know it sounds silly to think that moving sensitive 2-3 files, manually every time I change them to and from PDA is a hassle, but .. I guess it is a matter of principle for me, and - as most of computer geeks - at this point matter of curiosity, to see if this is doable.

My thoughts were: either change/ modify ActiveSync so it will sync specific folders outside; or.. learn c++, java, pascal or whatever - and write something myself. :).. or wait for someone on the site to bring up a brilliant idea.

BTW I am curious what other users have for “protection” ( password or encryption, or both ) on their axims under WM5. What is the best combination for security tools?

smacmillan

Polishruben: Thanks. You prompted me to check on native encryption and you're right -- I'd been (mis) reading the MS literature on WM5 that refers to encryption; it only refers to wireless encryption, not file encryption.

So I think we're violently agreeing. As far as complaining that a more automated solution for encryption + file transfer isn't available. I share your complaint and will be in the line behind you to buy any reliable (and affordable) product that comes along. 'Til then I'll be making do with manual transfers and Sentry.

It's a shame that we're both thinking about work and security on a Sunday.

Cheers