Research-in-Motion (RIM) is denying Indian media reports that it handed over encryption keys to the Indian government, enabling access to its BlackBerry secure corporate email and messaging services.
RIM said that it cannot provide the Indian government, or anyone else for that matter, the encryption keys to its corporate email and messaging services since only its clients have control of the keys, according to a report by Reuters.
For years, the Indian government has been trying to get the encryption keys from RIM for its corporate email and messaging services. The government has even threatened to ban BlackBerrys from the country if it was not granted access to encrypted corporate emails.
Citing correspondence between RIM and the Indian government, the Economic Times reported last week that RIM had provided the government with a solution developed by Verint that could intercept messages and emails exchanged by BlackBerry handsets and decrypt those messages.
RIM said that it is providing an “appropriate lawful access solution that enables India’s telecom operators to be legally compliant with respect to their BlackBerry consumer traffic, to the same degree as other smartphone providers in India, but this does not extend to secure BlackBerry enterprise communications”, according to a statement quoted by Reuters.
RIM gave India access to its consumer services, including its Messenger services, in January last year after authorities raised security concerns, but said it could not allow monitoring of its enterprise email, according to Reuters.
For years, the Indian government has been trying to get the encryption keys from RIM for its corporate email and messaging services. The government has even threatened to ban BlackBerrys from the country if it was not granted access to encrypted corporate emails.
Citing correspondence between RIM and the Indian government, the Economic Times reported last week that RIM had provided the government with a solution developed by Verint that could intercept messages and emails exchanged by BlackBerry handsets and decrypt those messages.
RIM said that it is providing an “appropriate lawful access solution that enables India’s telecom operators to be legally compliant with respect to their BlackBerry consumer traffic, to the same degree as other smartphone providers in India, but this does not extend to secure BlackBerry enterprise communications”, according to a statement quoted by Reuters.
RIM gave India access to its consumer services, including its Messenger services, in January last year after authorities raised security concerns, but said it could not allow monitoring of its enterprise email, according to Reuters.
Source: InfoSecure Magazine
