Should I be paranoid that my employer is also my BIS admin?

Long story short, I work for a phone company which will remain nameless (and it is not the one listed as my provider in my profile) I love working for them but what concerns me is that my company paid for personal phone (which is BIS) is, of course, being administered by them. I don't send the most risque stuff but the idea of my boss reading through all of my emails and bbm messages makes me a little bit paranoid.

The first thing I want to know is how much access a telco BIS admin has to my messages. I imagine the information they have is largely limited to password resets and administration. In fact, does the telco even store this information is it stored by RIM?

If it is held by RIM, that's fine, they tend to be pretty stubborn about giving any information out, but if it is held by my employer I may end up shelling out the extra money for BES.

If you're under their IT policy then they have the avalibility to look at every message sent/received and probably almost everything on the phone depending how they have it set up.

If your on BIS your boss can't read anything, only on BES that can be done.

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What if the company is running bes-x?

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The one thing to remember is that if the company supplies the equipment and service they do have the right to view anything they want. Under any court it will fall under their property and thus giving them final control over it's content.

Now should you be paranoid, I would say no. But should you be careful, I would have to say yes. I also have a phone supplied by an international known company, do I believe they look through everything I use the phone for, NO. But they do have the right if they want to, just use common sense.

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

If your on BIS your boss can't read anything, only on BES that can be done.

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A Telco could almost certainly get to all the traffic on their BIS, but if they have any sort of standards, it would be very difficult for the OP's boss (unless s/he was some sort of senior security staff member) to get to the OP's traffic.

Originally Posted by mscott222

Long story short, I work for a phone company which will remain nameless (and it is not the one listed as my provider in my profile) I love working for them but what concerns me is that my company paid for personal phone (which is BIS) is, of course, being administered by them. I don't send the most risque stuff but the idea of my boss reading through all of my emails and bbm messages makes me a little bit paranoid.

The first thing I want to know is how much access a telco BIS admin has to my messages. I imagine the information they have is largely limited to password resets and administration. In fact, does the telco even store this information is it stored by RIM?

If it is held by RIM, that's fine, they tend to be pretty stubborn about giving any information out, but if it is held by my employer I may end up shelling out the extra money for BES.

You are right to be paranoid. Wiki-leaks has proven that everything can be "had". Company paid for "personal phone" is a very bad concept. It's the company's phone full stop. Find out if your employer plans to implement BlackBerry Balance, this may alleviate your concerns.

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You said that they paid for your "personal phone." If you leave the company, is the phone yours, or theirs? Who's paying for the data plan?

If the phone is yours and you are paying for the plan, what's to worry about? Even if they could snoop on you, they couldn't really do anything about it as they are technically spying on you, without a warrant.

Now, if they own the phone and pay for the plan, then essentially it is theirs and they can do whatever they want with their phone.

If you really are paranoid, ask a lawyer and/or get a phone and plan from another provider.

to the OP. please define "personal".
i'm having trouble with the personal phone but the company paid for it part.
who gets the monthly bill? on who's name is it? yours? or the company?
and the plans including data, who's paying for it now?
can you make changes on the plans by yourself? ex.. increase/decrease voice plans etc etc?

To really get an answer OP you really need to explain in a little more detail...

The company, as a nice gesture to employees give us a plan with unlimited everything (including tethering) except international long distance and 3rd party shortcodes. The bill is in my name and sent to my address, it's just essentially subsidized by the telco.

It's not my boss in particular that I am worried about, I just find it a little bit worrying that my employer could potentially be reading my BBM messages. I guess I may end up shelling out the extra cash and paying for a hosted BES server but I would need to get permission from my employer in order to have the data plan changed over to support this.

It sounds like it's your phone and your bill, given to you as a perk of employment. You mentioned before that it's a BIS plan - you're positive?
If it's your phone and on BIS, your employer can see nothing on it.
If it's your phone and on BES, your emplyer can see everything on it but whether or not they can legally do so is unknown.
If it's their phone and on BES they can legally see everything on it.

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Originally Posted by mscott222

The company, as a nice gesture to employees give us a plan with unlimited everything (including tethering) except international long distance and 3rd party shortcodes. The bill is in my name and sent to my address, it's just essentially subsidized by the telco.

It's not my boss in particular that I am worried about, I just find it a little bit worrying that my employer could potentially be reading my BBM messages. I guess I may end up shelling out the extra cash and paying for a hosted BES server but I would need to get permission from my employer in order to have the data plan changed over to support this.

That sounds more like a "perk". I guess the question that remains, is this a company issued device that is used at work for work-related communication? If it is not used for company business then I think you are fine.

if i were you, i'll buy what's called " Peace of Mind" and get myself a different phone. Then you won't have to worry about anything or anyone as long as you stay legal.

let me clarify about the LEGAL part. There are "buzz" words that if you say it/ write it through SMS, emai, MMS, facebook can bring up a RED flag. Then the people i work for are LEGALLY bound to monitor your conversation without your permission.
and not just that, all your transactions, credit cards, FedEX shipments, Overseas travel etc WILL be closely monitored.

If your device is on BES the admin can read everything. Including BIS, text and BBMs if its the latest release of BES. Its an option that admin can implement. Default setting is BES only. They can also shut your device down with a push.

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