Monday, Dec 13, 2010
questions arise over deal with regulator
Dubai A senior technology expert is questioning media accounts published yesterday in the UAE and Oman that suggest BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has given UAE regulators the encryption key to decipher emails, messaging and web browsing on BlackBerry mobile phones.
Leif-Olof Wallin, Gartner’s research vice-president, said his firm’s latest information is that BlackBerry phones are still highly encrypted.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press to confirm if it had received encryption keys following a deal reached in October to allow BlackBerry phones to continue operating in the UAE.
“As far as Gartner is aware, a mobile e-mail between a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and a BlackBerry device is heavily encrypted and the only location where the encryption key is stored in readable format is in the BES and requires administrative access privileges to that server,” Wallin told Gulf News.
“Furthermore, the encryption key used is unique per [each] BlackBerry device and not known to neither [the] operators nor Research in Motion, the company behind BlackBerry, and [is] changed at certain intervals,” he added.
“BlackBerry Messages [BBM] exchanged between BlackBerry devices are encrypted using the same key for all devices and this key is known by RIM and installed by them on all devices, hence the level of security is much lower,” Wallin said.
“In order to stay compliant with local regulation around lawful intercept, Gartner believes that RIM will assist authorities when [the] grounds for lawful intercept [are] established.”
Muscat-based newspaper Al Roya quoted a Symantec official as saying that the encryption keys were provided by PGP, a company owned by RIM, to the TRA to help decipher BlackBerry content on individuals’ mobile phones when court orders are issued.
Asked to confirm the Al Roya story, a Symantec spokesperson declined and said the company was misquoted. Symantec issued a statement to Gulf News following the story.
“This is the correct quote from Ramzi Itani,” the spokesperson said.
By Derek Baldwin ?Business Features Reporter
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
