[iaonbb]

Hey guys,

Need some pretty technical feedback on this one. I use BES through my work on my personal Storm and my personal VZW account. I noticed the other day when I was using my browser on the Storm to try and access a web page that it came back with the" Websense-page blocked." Huh? Why would my company's web filter tool be applied to the browser on my personal phone?

Well, that got me thinking (sacary huh?). does that mean they can view EVERYTHING I do on my phone? I'm sure the short anser is yes, they could do whatever they want. BUT, realistaically, how concerned should I be? I also tether my phone for personal web use from my home laptop. Can they view all the web pages I am visiting? Can they see my Comcast emails? My texts? My IM's? Aaarrrgggh...big brother has me apretty freaked out on t his one!

Can anyone shed a little light on exactly what BES does and what access it gives them to my phone and/or personal use?

I'd really like to know for obvsious reasons...

Thanks!

[robhimself]

BES allows the admin to apply policies to your phone but i don't believe that they can see what your phone has been doing. I manage the BES here at work but i honestly don't tinker with it much.

[bmwf1techie]

I am a BES admin and noticed a similar issue when all verizon and sprint blackberries on our BES tried accessing the web. We use webwasher and this prompt would come up before accessing the internet. When I went into the logs, I noticed that it was originating from the BES ip and not the actual device.

I fixed the issue by adding the BES as an exception to our firewall so that it wouldn't prompt the devices anymore.

To answer your question, yes an admin can see all your web activity if it's being logged. But a BES can't be used for logging texts, personal emails, or anything like that. Obviously your corporate email is probably logged and monitored by your email server, but the BES itself isn't monitoring web or email activity. Hope this helps.

[CigsMartini]

I don't think they can view EVERYTHING that you do on your phone and I don't think they can even see which webpages you browse on your phone. I am pretty lax here about letting people browse sites on their phones so I am not 100% sure.

I know that if you have your default browser set to blackberry browser it passes through your BES network which leaves you at the mercy of your company's acceptable use policy. Set it to Internet Browser and see if that works. That is unless they have it locked down so you can't change that option.

I think you are safe on the tethered part. The data comes straight from the carrier and does not go through the blackberry network so the only ones monitoring you when you connect that way are the BIGGEST BROTHERS of them all: DHS, FBI, NSA.

[vtbert3]

BES admins can see logs of texts and any email that goes to a blackberry mailbox if they check the boxes on the BES software to log that data. If you get a text or email then you have that on your phone and then you phone syncs wirelessly to BES and the BES can then log it. So Gmail can be seen if set up to be accessed through a BlackBerry mailbox. However, I am pretty sure that if you download the Gmail app and only use Gmail through that app, the BES server cannot log it. but texts can be logged if the admin so chooses and you can't do anything about that.

Phones on BES are usually corporate property and BES is designed to allow a corporation to fully monitor those using its property. Also, corporations have legal obligations to preserve electronic business communications, therefore, BES allows this. It is just a safe bet to not commingle your personal BB with your work BES.

[billslade]

By default your BlackBerry is set to use the "BlackBerry Browser" which goes through your company�s network. And yes if they wanted to they could monitor your web usage.

You can change this so internet traffic goes directly through Verizon while surfing on the Storm. The directions below are taken from the menus on my AT&T Curve but should be similar.

1) Open the Internet Browser
2) Select the Menu button and Options
3) Select General Properties
4) Change the Default Browser from "BlackBerry Browser" to "Internet Browser"
5) Close the browser and open it back up

Now test it by going to the web site that was blocked by Websense.

As far as the tethering I do not believe the traffic is going through your company but I'm not 100% on this.

Hope this helps.

[bkr6891]

Great info. Thanks guys! Websense has been frustrating me, especially when trying to view Storm OTA wallpapers, and it is blocked for Violence. LOL

[Jfredrix]

I have a related question to Billslade's response (I am also on BES). I noticed that I was having sluggish internet response the other day and went in and checked my settings and noticed that the browser was set to "Internet Browser". I switched it to "Blackberry Browser" and it seemed to get better. From your response, it sounds like "Blackberry Browser" goes through my company's Blackberry server but "Internet Browser" does not. Is that right and would it make any sense at all that browsing would actually be faster if it has to go through the company server first?

Edit: I checked Billslade's directions and noticed a couple of things. It does work (for example, Facebook.com is blocked when I have "Blackberry Browser" selected and not blocked when I have "Internet Browser" selected - in neither case was the mobile site - m.facebook.com - blocked). However, at first, even when I made the changes and saved, when I went back in and looked again, the changes had not stuck. I think maybe it was becasue my browser was open when I did it. I had better luck making the changed when I went into Options---> Advanced Options---> Browser than I did went I went into Options directly from the Browser. In any event, make sure after you make the changes and save, that you go BACK into options and see if they stuck.

[iaonbb]

Thanks for the very informative responses guys!

So in summary, it appears my BES Admin could log SMS/MMS if he actually wanted to (and knew how...I've had several conversations wtih him since getting the Storm and he honestly knows little-to-nothing about BES...how he got to be the BES Admin I'll never know.) Of course they can log my work emails. My personal Comcast emails are probably secure, and no they cannot log my web usage via tethering.

IM's through BB Messenger unknown?

Good info to know. I tried switching to IE and that fixed the websense problem too!

Thanks again and happy New Year to all!

[vtbert3]

Thanks for the very informative responses guys!

So in summary, it appears my BES Admin could log SMS/MMS if he actually wanted to (and knew how...I've had several conversations wtih him since getting the Storm and he honestly knows little-to-nothing about BES...how he got to be the BES Admin I'll never know.) Of course they can log my work emails. My personal Comcast emails are probably secure, and no they cannot log my web usage via tethering.

IM's through BB Messenger unknown?

Good info to know. I tried switching to IE and that fixed the websense problem too!

Thanks again and happy New Year to all!

SMS/MMS = Yes, IM's through BB Messenger = Yes, Comcast emails = Yes. The BES admin can choose to log it all and he can review the logs.

[jdf28045]

I am logging sms and phone logs. I can seem to log mms data. can you point me in the right direction? I need to be able to see the data that is being sent. any help would be great. BES 4.16 about to up grade to 5