Blackberry's Security

Blackberry’s security is in fact completely different from other mobile devices. The main difference is covered in the way mobile phones access the internet and email. Unlike many other smartphones they do it via a network of Operations Centres owned by RIM itself and situated all over the world.  Any mobile carrier operating Blackberry devices has to connect  to this proprietary system and RIM guarantees the absolute security and it seems that its guarantee costs a lot. Millions of governmental establishments and business enterprises choose this gadget for their employees for this very reason.

 As  one of its selling point, RIM has granted companies and corporations access and tools to monitor and archive  the data from Blackberry gadgets they own through a specifically elaborated BlackBerry Enterprise Servers, which may act as a gateway to a company’s e-mail systems. So, in fact, governments should not ask  RIM to grant a permission  for an official enquire, they only need to address companies themselves. When BlackBerry service  was first allowed in China, its sales were restricted to hand-held devices linked to enterprise servers within the country. Chinese security agencies  are said to have direct access to all data stored on those servers, as they are mostly controlled  by government-owned corporations.

Now Blackberry is facing pressure in several directions as its encryption policy is not to the governments’ liking in many states.  And  a big issue here is that when in 1990-s the USA wanted to pass some acts aimed at limiting strong encryption systems, the government had to give up opposed by strong resistance of high tech companies and privacy advocates.

Unfortunately, on the emerging markets there are no such figures which would protect their own interests and in the long run shield interests of final consumers.  RIM is certain to have heavy negotiations on its Blackberry future in China; a range of Asian states are also interested in legal eavesdropping  smartphone communications. It is quite likely that RIM is going to make concessions, though is yet unclear  to what extent.