Technically, BlackBerry runs a tight ship with the PRIV. Timely security updates every month on top of the digital fortress set up by encryption means it is impregnable to unauthorized access. Motherboard reports that the RCMP, as part of a criminal investigation, was able to intercept and decrypt more than a million Blackberry messages over the course of two years.
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The key is detailed in court documents seen by Vice relating to case against a Montreal crime syndicate. It is this version of the implementation that the Canadian police had access to.
It does mean that Mounties have had access to Canadians’ personal mobiles without the public being aware of it. The documents show that BlackBerry and Rogers both collaborated with law enforcement agencies.
The Motherboard report says that the key does not provide the police access to government and business workers, who make up the majority of BlackBerry’s clientele, but does unlock private smartphones without their knowledge.
The Canadian firm – famed for its security but now facing serious difficulties and vanishing marketshare – apparently has a global decryption key that can be used to intercept messages sent on its consumer-level devices, and the Canadian police have been used it since 2010.
BlackBerry is in a unique position to help bring the two sides of this debate together, to find common ground and a way forward. Secondly, BlackBerry offers businesses enterprise-grade encryption, allowing them to use their own keys making them immune to this particular brand of police snooping.
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Phones on corporate accounts are apparently safe from the encryption-breaking code.
