[zevinzion]

Using a 9700 OS .862...

I've been reading lately about the need to keep one's data on their Blackberry secure, and that BIS is not nearly as secure as BES.

As such, what steps (please be specific) can one take to ensure (maximum) security on a BIS device?

Also, what are the implications of having encryption and such enabled o nthe device? Does it drain battery in some way? Why wouldn't all BB's have it enabled by default?

Thanks for the help.

[fozzieb]

I too would like to know this, noob BB user

[belfastdispatcher]

First step you should do is set a device password, nobody can get past that. Encryption depends what kind of information you have in your phone.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[BergerKing]

1. The most effective method is using the device password. 10 attempts, all data is gone.

2-4. Backup, backup, backup.
Back up your data to get it back. Whether you use BlackBerry Protect or Desktop Manager, back up your data regularly.
BlackBerry Protect can be set to back up your handset automatically, on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Use a good password you can remember, but not have someone easily guess. BlackBerry Protect can also remotely wipe your handset, and has a couple of other advantages, as well. BlackBerry Protect

Rather than type out the whole enchilada on encryption, I'll refer you to This

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[MobileMadness002]

Please remember though, if you enable encryption on your SD card and you forget your PW, you can run the risk of losing all data on your card. There are 2 types of PW that can be set on the SD card, User PW and device PW. The device PW uses an encryption KEY assigned by the device by a random seed. You remove the seed, you remove the ability to recover the data. And as BK stated and I cannot state this enough myself, backup your data, I actually have 4 backups on different mediums at any given time and I don't even use my berry for anything important.

[fozzieb]

Thanks for all the advice guys, great help

[T�nis]

BlackBerry is the most secure smart phone for protecting your device and media card data. But as others have already pointed out, you have to be careful because you yourself could lose access to your data at some point if you forget your password or if you set up encryption in such a way that use of the encrypted media card is limited to just one device.

You ask why BlackBerries don't ship with encryption on, and the answer is because users have different needs. For some, a password is enough. It's important to remember that certain features (full caller id and custom contact alerts) won't work if the device is locked and you've included your address book in encryption. (If the address book is not included, those features do work.) For others (corporations that back up everything on computers anyway, I imagine), it might be so important that device data is always tied to just one device and can never be moved to a different device. With BlackBerry they can set up the encryption to accomplish that. I'm somewhere in the middle. I want everything encrypted at the highest level encryption, but I want to be able to move my media card to a different device if my device fails. Therefore, I set encryption up to accomplish that. I also encrypt my address book and forgo caller id and custom contact alerts when my device is locked. I'm more concerned about protecting my contact list should someone take my BlackBerry and get around the password with software and technology. If you're only concerned about the opportunistic thief, then including the address book would probably not be necessary; he'd probably just wipe your device by entering too many passwords.

Here's a link to some info on encryption. It's for the 8330, but the principles are the same on all models.

How to Encrypt Data on Your BlackBerry and Its Media Card