PocketPC palms off security fears at BBC

A BBC insider has denied that the corporation's staff have been banned from using the Palm operating system because it is less secure than PocketPC.

The BBC had told staff that from the summer of 2003 they would not be able to synchronise personal information and calendaring functions with their desktops unless they used a hand-held running the PocketPC OS.

"We weren't saying Palm was any less reliable, it's just that we're a Microsoft house," said the source. "It made sense to go on with that strategy at the time. As far as I can see, there's no lack of security as such on the Palm."

Analysts and security experts have warned that havoc could ensue unless connections between PDAs and corporate Lans are tightly policed.

Jessica Figueras, analyst at Ovum, said, "It's important for network managers to talk to business managers and work out who should be allowed this kind of access. For staff in remote, customer-facing roles it's worthwhile looking into, but if you're talking about an employee who will simply find it more convenient, it might be better to resist."

The BBC is currently testing user-friendly sign-on techniques for non-technical staff. "One of the things we're looking at is physical sign-in, where the user writes their signature on the PDA screen," said our BBC source. "If the device does not recognise the signature as the user's, the device shuts down and resets to default, and that blows all the data. It's very simple if it works, and that's always helpful with users."

He said PDA access would be granted on a policy basis, but that not all content would be made available. "We have to be careful about things like episode script files. We have had the odd leak."

The BBC could not rule out hackers trying to access scripts. "The Eastenders scripts are very carefully guarded," he added.
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