Research In Motion executives are fond of saying that their platform is more secure than other mobile providers. For example, Scott Tzoke, RIM's VP of Security was recently quoted as saying that BlackBerrys are “secure right out of the box” (meaning that no additional mobile security protection is needed) and that RIM offers enterprises with the most secure mobile computing option thanks to the ability to create security settings for all enterprise users via its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).
This official position is not without its critics, particularly among some mobile security researchers such as Tyler Shields whose presentation at ShmooCon 2010 showed how standard BlackBerry settings could “access and leak sensitive information using only RIM-provided APIs and no trickery or exploits at all.”
All of these security questions are moot, however, if you're using your BlackBerry to send its highly touted encrypted emails to or from the Russian Federation, the Peoples Republic of China; or, shortly, India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Continue reading »