Only 2 BlackBerry services cause of security worry

With Indian security agencies having raised the red flag once again over the use of BlackBerry smartphones in the country,it now transpires that the security concerns which are causing immense discomfort in the country’s security establishment relate to only two services — the BlackBerry enterprise services and the BlackBerry Messenger.

While the security agencies have been able to intercept and monitor voice-calls,SMSes,and emails on BlackBerry phones,it is the enterprise services and the Messenger which they have not been able to track,sources said. While the Messenger offers chat facility to BlackBerry users,the enterprise services allow BlackBerry customers to create their own unique keys to communicate between themselves.

Sources further told that even if the security agencies managed to intercept some of these services,the contents were often “unreadable” because of them being encrypted. “We want Research in Motion (RIM) to ensure that our security agencies are able to intercept and decipher these services in real-time,” an official said.