How Secure is Your Blackberry?

The international press has been filled with concerns over the security of Research in motions blackberry devices. Is your corporate data wide open to a Security Breach? It may not but be the court cases that pile pressure onto RIM but the technology itself.

In the UK the BBC (26/10/05) admitted that it had been forced to suspend its Blackberry email service after senior executives reported that portions of other people’s electronic conversations were appearing in the middle of their own messages. Siemens, which runs the BBC IT operations under an outsourcing agreement, closed the corporation Blackberry network last week after execs compared notes on a corporate away day and realized the rogue email problem was far from an isolated problem within the organization.

The French ministry for defense has been so alarmed by security breaches that the Blackberry has been the subject of debate at the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Dfense Nationale (Institute of Higher National Defense Studies). Alerted by growing concerns over security many Government offices and French Enterprise Corporations have already prohibited their senior officials from using this system.

The German Press Agency reported (05/10/05) that the Federal Office for security and information technology (BSI) in Bonn, warned against the use of Blackberry devices. Due to uncertain architecture the Blackberry devices are not suitable in sensitive environments of the public administration and the espionage-endangered enterprises, stated the Federal Office.

Competitors are all coming forward with allegedly ëbetter than Blackberryí offerings but one company in particular has proven, until now, to be a best kept secret. CommonTime is a privately owned UK based company producing mobile and wireless software. That in itself is not a claim to fame but there are a few surprising facts surrounding this company; it is approaching 500,000 users of itís Lotus Notes wireless email & PIM software, itís software is trusted in 247 of the Fortune 500 companies, it started shipping mobile Lotus Instant Messaging functionality well ahead of RIM, itís clients include Bank One, Rolex and Coca Cola amongst others, plus you may have seen CommonTime software shipped on HP iPAQ companion CDs. Not bad for a UK company thatís not listed by Analysts mainly because it only mobilizes enterprises running Lotus Notes, and not Exchange. ìUnlike some Analysts, we donít see this specialism as a disadvantage. It means that we donít compete with Microsoft in the Exchange 2003 wireless email space. More importantly it means that enterprises can get a true best of breed highly secure (with AES end-to-end encryption) mobile Lotus Notes solution that outperforms all others for reliability, robustness and manageability. We proud to know Notes better than our competitorsî says Ollie Omotosho, Head of Marketing

CommonTime answers all your security issues with its mSuite products, offering both over the air and on device security technology that is proven, dependable, scaleable, manageable and secure. ìWith our mSuite product range, we can protect mobile data against loss or regulatory breach; whether due to accident, negligence, or malice by protecting the device or its removable memoryî said CommonTime CEO Nigel Mackrill. ìCommonTimeô provides security and productivity leading enterprises deserve.î
CommonTime mSuite offers software which utilizes industry-recognized FIPS compliant AES security libraries, and protects against handheld device data theft, identity theft, and fraudulent email attacks. The over the air security (OTA) features provide true end-to-end security between wireless mobile devices and the corporate network.

Mobile workers can now access sensitive information with a high level of security, without compromising the speed and flexibility of wireless devices. The software is supported by a complete management solution for centralized remote control of security policies, software and content on mobile devices