davidwr's Journal: Cell phone, digital camera, and PDA encryption

One of the biggest dangers to PDAs, digital cameras, and the like is identity theft if the items are lost or stolen.

Some devices have keypad-locks, which is a start.

I recommend all devices have keypad-locks that activate after a user-configurable period of time or after boot.

I also recommend that all data be strongly encrypted and never stored in clear-text when the device is off.

If public-key encryption is used, most people will not be able to memorize the public key. Take the private key, encrypt it using a passphrase, and store the encrypted version on an second device which can be plugged into or brought near the cell-phone, PDA, or camera.

In the case of a camera, photos are stored encrypted, and must be decrypted before use on a PC. In the case of a cell phone, all data, including call records and photos, are stored encrypted.
This feature is especially useful when traveling to countries that do not value privacy.