Newbie question regarding employer

My blackberry was issued to me by my employer and all of the data/internet is covered under my employer's plan. The phone service is mine and I pay for this service. I recently downloaded bb messenger to my 8800, however, I was "warned" by a co-worker that our employer can read the messages that we send via bb messenger.

I obviously know my employer can read any email that I send to/from that goes through our work servers and are saved on my desktop, but what other kind of access does my employer have to the other aspects of my blackberry?

Can they see my personal activities--phone calls, text messages?

Can they see instant message to/from on the bb messenger?

I tried to a search on the forum for a while regarding these issues, so my apologies if this has already been covered. I really appreciate any assitance that may be provided regarding my questions; thanks in advance.

Your on a BES, anything having to do with your blackberry can essentially be viewed, they can shut your BB off, wipe your data, do really whatever they want, all without you even knowing whats going on.

In regards to PIN messages, there is no privacy as long as you are on BES.

As for text messages, they really cannot see the exact verbage of your message but they can see who you send it to or who are messaging you. It is best to get your contacts on Google Talk or those other IM application.

Thanks so much for the information, still a little confused--but that has much more to do with my being unfamiliar with the bb/technical lingo. Bottom line: they can see who/when I'm calling and texting and emails (from my office) and bb messages are completely visible even when the conversation has ended?

I have downloaded the gmail application and use that for all my personal email. If I check that email on the bb, can they now see my personal email through gmail?

Thanks again for the responses and help.