Tag Archives: BlackBerry

How Dutch Police Decrypted BlackBerry PGP Messages For Criminal Investigation

The Dutch police have managed to decrypt a number of PGP-encrypted messages sent by criminals using their custom security-focused PGP BlackBerry phones and identified several criminals in an ongoing investigation.

PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy, an open source end-to-end encryption standard that can be used to cryptographically sign emails, files, documents, or entire disk partitions in order to

Bye Bye BlackBerry. There’s a new kind of smartphone security.

BlackBerry

BlackBerry used to define the Smartphone sphere. Once popular for its physical keyboard and exclusive-for-users IM service, now BlackBerry has been left out in the cold. The Canadian company recently announced that they will no longer make the devices. However, they will continue to market the phones that will be manufactured by other companies. So, why buy a BlackBerry in 2016?

Because they’ve got an incredible reputation for security (as a matter of fact, many government officials use BlackBerry devices for that reason). In 2000 the brand was known as Research In Motion (RIM) and offered Subscription-based emailing. At this time, all emails sent and received by BlackBerry phones had to pass through highly-protected servers. This means that an attacker wouldn’t be able to intercept the phone’s messages. This encryption measure is pretty common in today’s phones, but it wasn’t 16 years ago.

User security remains a priority for BlackBerry. They have hardened security in their newest model, the DTEK50– a Smartphone manufactured by Alcatel that’s running on Android.

The phone is also named “the smartest smartphone in the world” and has a number of security-related features. This super secure Smartphone encrypts its users’ photographs, bank information and also uses the software necessary to store passwords safely. It also notifies its owners if someone uses the camera remotely to take photos or videos, or if the microphone is being used to record conversations.  

Most businesses think about security when building their IT infrastructure. By focusing exclusively on the corporate environment, BlackBerry is going back to its roots, and for good reason: it doesn’t matter who continues to make BlackBerry phones, the company still promises to enforce the strongest security possible.

 

The post Bye Bye BlackBerry. There’s a new kind of smartphone security. appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.

Canadian Police obtained Master Key to Crack BlackBerry Messenger Encryption

BlackBerry has long been known for its stance on mobile security, as it was the first mobile phone maker to provide end-to-end encryption. But a new report revealed that the company has provided a master backdoor to law enforcement in its secure devices since 2010.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have been in possession of a global decryption key for BlackBerry phones since 2010,

BlackBerry Warns Many Products Vulnerable to FREAK Attack

BlackBerry is warning customers that a large portion of the company’s product portfolio is vulnerable to the FREAK SSL attack. Many versions of the BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry Enterprise Server are vulnerable to FREAK, as are a number of versions of BlackBerry Messenger. The advisory from BlackBerry says that there are no workarounds for the […]