Security features for BlackBerry devices

The BlackBerry® infrastructure makes sure that all the data that BlackBerry devices send and receive, including a BlackBerry user's credentials, is highly secure and is available only to users that the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server manages and authenticates.

The security model for BlackBerry devices is designed to protect organizations from data loss or alteration when the following actions occur:
  • A user with malicious intent intercepts data on an organization's network when BlackBerry devices send and receive email messages.
  • A user with malicious intent accesses an organization's data over a wireless network using a BlackBerry device.
  • A user with malicious intent uses application code, such as a virus, to steal an organization's data.
  • A user with malicious intent steals a BlackBerry device.
The security model for BlackBerry devices implements symmetric key cryptography to address the following security concerns:
  • Confidentiality: Encryption permits only the intended recipient to see the contents of an email message.
  • Integrity: Message keys prevent a third-party from decrypting or altering the contents of an email message.
  • Authenticity: The BlackBerry Enterprise Server authenticates the device transport key for the BlackBerry device before the BlackBerry Enterprise Server can send an email message to the BlackBerry device.

Using symmetric key cryptography, information data is encrypted (not decrypted) at all points between the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and Chalk™ Pushcast™ Software. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server does not deliver an email message if the BlackBerry Enterprise Server cannot identify the message format produced by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server decryption process or if the BlackBerry Enterprise Server receives a message encrypted with the wrong master encryption key.


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