[BlackberryFan777]

My Facebook and Twitter streams are filled with links to stories about PRISM, a U.S. government internet monitoring program reported on by a handful of prestigious newspapers including the Washington Post.

I'd never believed that security or privacy were strong distinguishing factors in the consumer market... up until now. I mean, I know that consumers say that security is important to them, but I haven't been convinced that this assertion has a big effect on their mobile purchasing decisions... up until now.

Why do I think things have changed? I've had a number of people -- if you count social media channels over a dozen -- ask me personally if they think carrying a BlackBerry as an additional messaging device might provide better security.

Now, I'd like to tell them that BBM is inherently more secure because it bypasses the internet altogether in favor of a carriers forwarding messages to BlackBerry's private network and using advanced encryption. However, I'm not even sure if that's true under BB10. Does BBM on BB10 use BlackBerry's private network if you have BIS? What if you don't? What are the security advantages over say, Apple's iMessage? Is there less malware on BlackBerry? Is it harder for the government to snoop? These questions are all of a sudden important to at least a segment of the U.S. population. All of a sudden security promises to make BlackBerry cool, again.

So, why do I say "missed opportunity?" Well, I've searched on Google and I'm surprised at the failure to make a case for BlackBerry at this moment in time. The best comments on security I could find were here on CrackBerry. There doesn't seem to be any case being made by BlackBerry to consumers in light of recent events and... well... I actually couldn't find enough information to comfortably tell people that Z10s running 10.0 can send pin2pin messages without using the internet. What if you are on BIS and the Z10 owner you send to is not? It's just amazing that this stuff still isn't clear. Crazy, eh?

Does anyone have a good link persuasively making the case that people concerned about government snooping should buy BlackBerry 10 devices as opposed to iPhone/Android devices? I must have missed something, right?

-- B.

[howarmat]

the govt can just get data from the carriers really. that affects all phones and BB is not immune really. Also think about the email accounts on your BB, chances are its one listed from the 9 companies in question so again it doesnt matter if you use a BB or not its still data on the email servers.

[dwatts26726]

When I first heard about PRISM, I thought how I really wish I could keep my @blackberry.net email account once I upgrade to the Q10.

[BlackberryFan777]

Good points, Matt and dwatts. I agree about the email and about the idea that carriers could intercept BBM messages on behalf of the government. But, I'm still curious about how BBM works today? Does anyone know if that still uses a private network all of the time or does it use the internet like other messengers now? How will it work on Android or iOS?

[f_d]

BBM still flows through a private network, BUT, it is not considered a "secure" communications method. Because BBM and PIN are considered "consumer-grade" channels and for legacy compatibility reasons, BBM and PIN use somewhat weaker cryptography than Enterprise-grade BES email and BES communications in general.. See the BlackBerry Security Technical Overview document for further information on exactly how BBM and PIN are protected. BBM and PIN are less about security than about fast, reliable instant communications- you can send a message and you know it will get delivered, and you know if it has been received and read.

Apple iMessage is also insecure, but in a a different manner, due to iCloud, and is not as reliable, which is the real issue at hand..




Posted via CB10

[southlander]

Not sure. But if it is, just add it to the list. Lol.

Posted via BlackBerry 10