Talks at 22C3: The trouble with Blackberries

Starting in the middle of the year a few concerns popped up in the mainstream press about security of RIM’s Blackberry toys. You know the little “Managers’ favourite Tamagotchi” feeding all your e-mails through RIM’s own hub… The professional paranoids were not very surprised by that.

First there was the investigative magazine “Computerwoche” telling that at car manufacturer Audi concerns remained to rethink if it’s a good idea to transfer confidential data via the RIM network.

A bit later on another magazine known for detailed and precise reports called Wirtschaftswoche leaked it’s own interpretation of a paper by the German Federal Bureau of Information Technology Security BSI suspecting the devices insecure.

Meanwhile some BBC-folks received fragments of e-mail they were not destined for and the generals of the German Federal Armed Forces won’t get that toy at all. Probably not due to the fact that it could cause arthritis or harm tendons in the thumb.

Another remarkable detail is how RIM gets along with the patent infringement in the US. The US Patent and Trademark Office preliminary overturned 3 of the 5 patents already promising to check the remaining ones faster than normal. So what is it all about? Difficult to find out. RIM tells you “It’s secure. It has 3DES and AES!” Wow!

Time to have a deeper look at the devices, the infrastructure behind, stuff that has been tried. So did no one less than FX of Phenoelit telling you his findings.