India Can Intercept BlackBerry Messages

So, you are still pretty upset with the exposure of the PRISM program by Mr. Snowden, not to mention taken aback that France allegedly has their very own surveillance system that is not too different from PRISM, but wait until you hear this – India is said to have the capabilities to intercept BlackBerry messages as and when required, and this is not some clandestine government sting, but rather, BlackBerry themselves are ready to provide Indian authorities with a method of doing so.

The Times of India revealed this rather shocking bit of information, where it was published as part of a leaked government document. It was also mentioned that Indian government officials did seem to have dropped demands that BlackBerry should also open up access to business emails which are sent over Blackberry Enterprise Server. BlackBerry has always maintained that they do not have the fabled “master key” or “backdoor” which would carve open access to encrypted corporate information which are sent through its service, even if law enforcers or government agencies come knocking on their door, so as a BlackBerry user, you should heave a sigh of relief. This sounds rather confusing from what we shared in the first paragraph, no?

Good to know that BlackBerry has issued a statement on the situation to shed more light on the situation, mentioning, “The lawful access capability now available to Blackberry’s carrier partners meets the standard required by the government of India for all consumer messaging services offered in the Indian marketplace. We also wish to underscore, once again, that this enablement of lawful access does not extend to Blackberry Enterprise Server.”

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: BlackBerry, india