RIM Company - Learn about Research In Motion. Indonesia Joins Blackberry Ban. The international controversy around RIM’s security measures continues to grow in size. According to the Economic Times, Indonesia is the latest country (along with the UAE and Saudi Arabia) to demand a change to RIM’s policy of encrypting and routing emails through its own servers. The countries deem this a threat to their sovereignty, and want RIM to install local servers rather than direct traffic internationally.
RIM was unmoved, saying: The BlackBerry enterprise solution was designed to preclude RIM or any third party, from reading encrypted information under any circumstances, since RIM does not store or have access to the encrypted data.Any claims that we provide, or have ever provided, something unique to the government of one country that we have not offered to the governments of all countries are unfounded. But RIM is in a tough spot: they can’t afford to lose millions of customers any more than they can compromise their security to please local governments.
BlackBerry stock loses $2.7billion as Indonesia joins ban demand-International Business-News-The Economic Times. Global Voices Blackberry face growing pressure in the Gulf and India over encryption code. The United Arab Emirates’ Telecommunications Regulation Authority (TRA) and The Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) announced, respectively on August 1st 2010 and on August 5th, 2010, that they will block some functions of the Blackberry due to non-compliance with the regulatory requirements in both countries. And while the UAE will cut off some BlackBerry services such as BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry E-mail and BlackBerry Web-browsing as of October 11, 2010, Saudi Arabia had ordered the kingdom's three mobile phone providers, Etihad Etisalat-Mobily, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Zain Saudi Arabia, to block all BlackBerry's services, including e-mail and instant messaging, starting from tomorrow, Friday, August 6th, 2010.
The main reason of the ban seems to lie in the way BlackBerrys handle data and in the judicial and security concerns of the encrypted communications sent to computer servers outside of the two countries. According to Dr. Clinton Says BlackBerry Bans Hinder Rights. RIM to share some BlackBerry codes with Saudis: source - Technology & science - Wireless. RIM Reportedly Bows To Pressure From Saudi Arabia, Hands Over Blackberry Access. Even when you’re one of the largest mobile companies in the world (and certainly the largest for the business elite), things change when you find yourself at odds with a sovereign nation. Or a few. That’s the situation RIM is in right now as they attempt to reconcile their longtime promise to users (uncompromising encryption and security) with the unforgiving world of global politics. As you’re likely aware if you’re reading this post, RIM has been the center of government ire in a few countries (most prominently the UAE, India, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia), which have threatened to ban Blackberry devices if RIM doesn’t provide them reasonable access to users’ data.
RIM’s response was a stolid “relax,” but the public response appears to be different from the internal one, if reports from inside the company are true. It all depends on the scale of the concessions RIM made. Update: I’ve disabled comments on this post and deleted a bunch of the trash that was down there. BlackBerry ban lifted in Saudi Arabia | Technology.
The threat of a ban on certain BlackBerry functions has been temporarily lifted in Saudi Arabia, a government regulator revealed today. Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) had successfully completed "part of the regulatory requirements" over the weekend, allowing a temporary reprieve to the ongoing threat of a blockage to services including email and web browsing on the company's handsets. Authorities in Saudi Arabia had said some BlackBerry Messenger services would be blocked from Friday, 6 August, citing security fears about the way the Canadian technology firm encrypts personal data on its devices. RIM transmits data through servers based outside of the Middle East, making government monitoring of customer content difficult.
A CITC official said on Sunday that RIM and other Saudi mobile firms were testing domestic servers transmitting data in addition to RIM's server in Canada. Saudi Arabia holds off on blocking BlackBerry services, RIM negotiations continue. Despite announcing its intentions to block web services from BlackBerry devices starting last week, Saudi Arabia has allowed them to continue functioning unimpeded while BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion tries to resolve the country’s security complaints with the smartphones. The country originally set a deadline for Friday August 6 to block the services, and it also let a second deadline go by at midnight last night, reports BusinessWeek.
The news comes after the Obama administration announced its intentions to mediate discussions between RIM and countries with similar concerns to Saudi Arabia. Regarding the leeway, Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission said: “Given the positive development in the completion of part of the regulatory requirements by service providers, the Commission decided to allow the continuation of BlackBerry Messenger service.” RIM Will Share BlackBerry Code With Saudi Authorities. RIM Avoids Indian Ban Hammer, Cooperates With Security Authorities Over BlackBerry E-Mail.
As it stands, the Indian government will study RIM’s proposal to make sure everything is to its liking. The review process is expected to take some 60 days. This is but the latest example of RIM facing pressure for various governments: either give us access to BlackBerry e-mail, or be banned from the country outright. The fear is that bad guys could use the encrypted communication to plan bad things. In any event, RIM has cooperated, so no need to worry about a ban. Photo. BlackBerry Maker RIM Complies With Indonesian Censorship Request.
Smartphone Forensics: Cracking BlackBerry Backup Passwords « Advanced Password Cracking – Insight. BlackBerry dominates the North American smartphone market, enjoying almost 40 per cent market share. A 20 per cent worldwide market share isn’t exactly a bad thing, too. The total subscriber base for the BlackBerry platform is more than 50 million users. Today, we are proud to present world’s first tool to facilitate forensic analysis of BlackBerry devices by enabling access to protected data stored on users’ BlackBerries. One of the reasons of BlackBerry high popularity is its ultimate security. It was the only commercial mobile communication device that was ever allowed to a US president: Barack Obama has won the privilege to keep his prized BlackBerry despite resistance from NSA. (On a similar note, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev was handed an iPhone 4 a day before its official release by no one but Steve Jobs himself.
All data transmitted between a BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry smartphones is encrypted with a highly secure AES or Triple DES algorithm.