India checks possible option for BlackBerry e-mail snooping
updated 08:55 am EDT, Thu August 19, 2010
India has brief chance of catching BBerry mail
India may have a way of spying on BlackBerry e-mail if government sources' statements are correct. The country is reported by Reuters as working with a RIM team in New Delhi on a solution that would use the one point of vulnerability on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Since mail is briefly stored on a BES unit before it leaves, Indian officials want to see if they can intercept and decrypt messages before they leave for their intended destinations.
Other suggestions have been offered, but RIM has repeatedly said that it doesn't have a master key to BlackBerry mail. The encryption pads for messages and other data are only available to the sender and the receiver, preventing even RIM from getting access to any messages.
RIM still faces an August 31 deadline if the solution doesn't work and could be at risk of losing many of the roughly 1.1 million customers it has in India if BES e-mail is shut down. Many companies opt for the BlackBerry due to the privacy of its e-mail, and without it would have no incentive to avoid switching to iPhones, Android phones and other devices that aren't as secure but which wouldn't have services disabled.
RIM hasn't officially commented on the story.
