RIM Under Fire From UAE Over Security Issues

Amongst all the razzle and dazzle today in NYC at the Blackberry 6 party, RIM is trying to assure its customers that their data security is not flawed.
This has come to the forefront as the United Arib Emirates (UAE) have been demanding to have monitoring control of all Blackberry data going in and out of their country.

The U.A.E. said Sunday it would ban most BlackBerry services starting in October, citing national-security concerns. The country’s telecommunications regulator said Monday such a ban would apply to both domestic customers and international roaming users.

The government is worried it wouldn’t be able to compel RIM to turn over customer data, now processed in RIM’s private servers outside the country, said a person familiar with the situation.

The UAE was attempting to make RIM locate servers in the country so as to have them under local jurisdiction. RIM did offer the UAE access to 3,000 customers data instead, however RIM will not discuss any of the conversations they had with UAE officials.

RIM said the BlackBerry network was set up so that “no one, including RIM, could access” customer data, which is encrypted from the time it leaves the device. It added RIM would “simply be unable to accommodate any request” for a key to decrypt the data, since the company doesn’t have the key.

The BlackBerry network is designed “to exclude the capability for RIM or any third party to read encrypted information under any circumstances,” RIM’s statement said.

RIM has stated today that their data encryption is designed so that no third party can access it, and that all Blackberry users should not be concerned about their security.

I for one am glad that RIM stood up for their product and did not succumb to the demands of a government. They may lose some business, but they have stood by their product.

What do you think about RIM’s decision? Please drop a comment or head over to the Nerdberry Forums and get the discussion going.

Source: Wall Street Journal Mobile

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