Secure wireless backup mechanism

1. A method for backing-up data in a wireless network, the method comprising steps of:

selecting data within a wireless device for backup in a storage area, the storage area being accessible by the wireless device through the wireless network;

encrypting the selected data; and

sending the encrypted data to the storage area

wherein the step of sending the encrypted data to the storage area is done using a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technique.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of sending the encrypted data to the storage area includes a step of encapsulating the encrypted data within a SyncML document.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of sending the encrypted data to the storage area includes a step of encapsulating the encrypted data within an XML document.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless device is one of a wireless telephone handset and a personal digital assistant.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of encrypting the selected data encrypts the selected data using a public key.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the public key is supplied by a Wireless Identity Module (WIM).

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising steps of:

downloading the encrypted data from the storage area; and

decrypting the encrypted data.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the step of downloading the encrypted data from the storage area is done using a WAP technique.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the step of decrypting the encrypted data decrypts the encrypted data using a private key.

10. A method for accessing backed-up data in a wireless network from a wireless device, the method comprising steps of:

downloading the backed-up data from a storage area, the backed up data having been previously selected for backup by a user of the wireless device, the backed-up data further containing encrypted data encrypted by an encryption module upon the selection of the data, and the storage area being accessible by the wireless device through the wireless network; and

decrypting the downloaded backed-up data.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the step of downloading the backed-up data from the storage area is done using a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technique.

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the step of decrypting the downloaded backed-up data decrypts the encrypted data using a private key.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the private key is supplied by a Wireless Identity Module (WIM).

14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the backed-up data is embedded in a SyncML document.

15. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the backed-up data is embedded in an XML document.

16. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the wireless client device is one of a wireless telephone handset and a personal digital assistant.

17. A wireless terminal device, comprising:

a memory capable of storing data;

a browser capable of allowing a user of the wireless terminal device to select data for backup storage;

a backup module capable of receiving the selected data upon its selection by the browser and encrypting the selected data; and

a backup application capable of sending the encrypted selected data to a storage area that is accessible to the wireless terminal device through a wireless network.

18. The wireless terminal device according to claim 17 , wherein the browser is a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browser.

19. The wireless terminal device according to claim 17 , wherein the encrypted selected data is sent to the storage area using a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technique.

20. The wireless terminal device according to claim 17 , wherein the encrypted selected data is encapsulated within a SyncML document.

21. The wireless terminal device according to claim 17 , wherein the encrypted selected data is encapsulated within an XML document.

22. The wireless terminal device according to claim 17 , wherein the wireless terminal device is one of a wireless telephone handset and a personal digital assistant.

23. The wireless terminal device according to claim 17 , wherein the backup module encrypts the selected data using a public key.

24. The wireless terminal device according to claim 23 , further comprising a Wireless Identity Module (WIM) that stores the public key.

25. The wireless terminal device according to claim 17 , wherein the backup application downloads the encrypted data from the storage area,

the wireless terminal device further comprising a restore module that decrypts the encrypted data.

26. The wireless terminal device according to claim 25 , wherein the encrypted data is downloaded from the storage area using a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technique.

27. The wireless terminal device according to claim 25 , wherein the restore module decrypts the encrypted data using a private key.

28. The wireless terminal device according to claim 27 , further comprising a Wireless Identity Module (WIM) that stores the private key.

29. A method for backing-up and retrieving data in a wireless network, the method comprising steps of:

detecting user-selected data within a wireless device for backup in a storage area, the storage area being identifiable by a URI and being accessible by the wireless device through the wireless network;

encrypting the selected data encrypted using a public key for the user supplied by a WIM associated with the user;

embedding the encrypted data in a SyncML document;

sending the encrypted data to the storage area using a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technique;

accessing the encrypted data in the storage area from the wireless device using a backup application stored in the wireless device;

downloading the backed-up data from the storage area, the backed up data having been previously selected for download by the user of the wireless device;

decrypting the downloaded backed-up data using a private key supplied by the WIM associated with the user.