Data Messenger and Secure Mobile Forms (Media Sourcery)
There is a new application for anyone who must store and/or transmit sensitive data to/from their cellphones. Good examples are hospitals or hospice businesses (HIPAA), lawyers on the field (client data), and as recently learned, even the government users of BlackBerry devices — see UK prime minister’s office acknowledges aide lost a BlackBerry phone during trip to China.
A new application, called Data Messenger/SecureMobileForms by Media Sourcery, allows companies to do just data — securely store and transmit their data. The app is highly configurable, and allows you to create XML-based forms, combined with permissions and location-based data. This solution goes beyond the mobile client pictured above. It is a whole secure messaging infrastructure, already proven on the web and desktop environments, and now recently extended to mobility. The S60 version was recently featured at Nokia’s website.
Data Messenger uses the concept of “data parcels” — similar in concept to typical parcels from UPS and FedEx, except this ones packages pure data; a file, a form, an MP3, whatever needs to be secured. The solution not only brings peace of mind when it comes to sensitive content, but it is traceable all the way from source to destination, parcels have a permission-model that includes who can access it and when, and for how long.
The solution is available on Java ME platforms (S60 and BlackBerry) and a Windows Mobile version is in development.
The secure forms solution can be found at SecureMobileForms.com.
(A quick disclaimer: I was involved in the early design days of this solution)
ceo
Dark Green
Wordpress
Ash Haque
XHTML Strict
This is a very interesting application, but a bit clumsy to implement, especially for companies that already have this set up as web protocol on a company site. My company, Usablenet (http://usablenet.com) provides a secure dynamic platform that mobilizes any and all web functionality without requiring the setup resources of a protocol like this. I believe this is more the manner in which people will want to interact with the mobile internet in the future, either for pleasure or work. I discuss these attitudes in a recent post on my website, http://mobilewebsitewatch.com. Read this article: http://mobilewebsitewatch.com/2008/08/new-study-usage-and-attitudes-about-mobile-web/