BBM messages are now accessible by the Indian government

A couple of months back, we reported that after being pressured by the Indian government, RIM decided to set up Blackberry servers that were stationed in Mumbai, India. If you were thinking that this move could only lead to the Indian government seeking more control over what goes in and out of RIM’s Blackberry servers, you would be right on the money. According to a report on India Today, not only has the Indian government gotten their way with the Blackberry servers, but they will now be able to tap into BBM messages.

This was confirmed by Indian security agencies who revealed that the process to decrypt the 256-bit encrypted data used by BBM is underway and would be up and running soon, claiming that the interception of BBM messages will be used in case where the government suspects that crimes or terror plots are being hatched. It should also be noted that the tapping of BBM only affects those on BIS as BES encryption keys are specific to every installation, while BIS’ encryption key is shared.

While we’re sure that the majority of us have nothing incriminating to hide, it could still be regarded as an invasion of privacy and will most definitely not sit well with some. What do you guys think?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: BBM, BlackBerry, RIM