Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
IT Management
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

RIM says it can't provide e-mail interception in India

May 26, 2008 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) has said it is unable to give the Indian government access to messages sent by its enterprise clients over the BlackBerry service.

The BlackBerry security architecture for enterprise customers is specially designed to exclude the capability for RIM or any third party to read encrypted information under any circumstances, the company said in an update to its Indian customers on Monday.

For enterprise customers, the security architecture is based on a symmetric key system whereby the customer creates his own key, and only the customer possesses a copy of his encryption key, RIM said. The company does not possess a "master key," nor does any "back door" exist in the system that would allow RIM or any third party to gain unauthorized access to the key or corporate data, it said.

Further, RIM would be unable to accommodate any request for a copy of an enterprise customer's encryption key, as neither RIM nor any wireless network operator possess a copy of the key, it said.

RIM also offers a separate product for individual customers, BlackBerry Internet Service, hosted by telecommunications operators. It did not comment on that service Monday, and a spokesman was unsure whether carriers offering such a service would have access to the security keys.

The Indian government had refused to allow an Indian network operator, Tata Teleservices, to offer BlackBerry services until the government was able to intercept BlackBerry messages for security reasons. Other mobile service providers, who were already offering the BlackBerry service, were also asked to introduce measures that would allow the government to intercept and read BlackBerry messages whenever necessary.

Governments have a wide range of resources and methodologies to satisfy national security and law enforcement needs without compromising commercial security requirements, RIM said.

The use of strong encryption in wireless technology is not unique to the BlackBerry platform, and is a mandatory requirement for all enterprise-class wireless e-mail services, it added.

Government sources were not immediately available for comment. Discussions between RIM and the government continue, according to informed sources.


Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Jump to comments

Research In Motion

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER
Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.
WHITE PAPER
Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.
WHITE PAPER
Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

What People Are Saying