Nomadic Computing - Security assessment of remote access to workplace systems

Abstract: Nomadic computing is about communication on an anytime anywhere basis. Security in this area is today not high enough and at the same time nomadic computing is increasing. In this thesis, security in the area of nomadic computing and remote access to company systems is assessed. The purpose is to investigate the security in this area today but also in the future in order to answer the main question of how and when secure nomadic computing can be offered. For this purpose a futuristic scenario has been used as a method to identify challenges within nomadic computing. After looking at the state of the art of wireless communication and security techniques, evaluating the focused techniques and looking at future trends, some preliminary conclusions could be made. A model of technology uptake has been used. The main concept of the model is to show that the uptake is depending on a co-evolution between different parts and not only the technique. One conclusion is therefore that the users must have confidence in the technique, but also in the organisation and the organisational use of the technique or else they will not use it. Security is important in order to create this trust and is thus of decisive importance to the technology uptake. Another conclusion is that the three focused techniques; rule-based access, authentication and policy/contract can be used today, but also in the future to increase the security for remote access. Finally, education and user awareness seems to be important in the future, even though the users interact less in the security management.