RIM can't give India access to BlackBerry messages

The latest update in the Indian government's ban of the BlackBerry cellular phone has the Canadian maker of the device, Research In Motion, telling the government it is not able to provide it with encrypted messages sent by its enterprise customers. RIM already had a 15-day ultimatum imposed on it by the government, which is demanding access to all wireless communications for security reasons.

On Monday, the company told its enterprise customers the Blackberry security architecture's inherent design does not allow any third parties, RIM included, to read encrypted information. RIM's enterprise clients use a symmetric key security architecture design, a copy of which only they possess. RIM does not have any form of breaking or side-stepping that measure, nor finding a copy of such key, the company said. RIM's BlackBerry Internet Service for individual customers may have a similar security system in place, though a company spokesperson was not sure whether or not it is protected by the same security architecture.

In its statements, RIM also pointed out the Indian government has other resources and methods at its disposal to ensure national security, adding high levels of wireless encryption is mandatory for enterprise e-mail services and such measure are not unique to BlackBerry devices.

Tata Teleservices and other BlackBerry service providers in India were asked to grant government officials access to intercept and read BlackBerry messages when needed or face being banned from India's market. The government, RIM and other service providers are continuing talks in this matter. [via Yahoo! News]

Filed under: industry, security, gadgets
Other story tags: BlackBerry, RIM, India, government