BlackBerry users find devices not so secure http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1105113455379_44/?hub=Sc iTech
CTV.ca News Staff A lawsuit in Toronto has triggered concerns about the security of the popular BlackBerry wireless email device. Most Bay St. investment traders and bankers would say they'd feel helpless without a Blackberry, a pocket-sized communication device that allows Internet and email access and text messaging. But a lawsuit launched by the CIBC is raising questions about the devices. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is suing Genuity capital, a new company started by former bank employees. CIBC says the employees used their BlackBerrys to improperly recruit their colleagues while still working at the bank. The case is based on so-called PINning messages sent over company-issued BlackBerry devices. The fact that bank management could access the messages has left many on Bay St. stunned. Many users assumed that the personal identification numbers assigned to each BlackBerry made the devices safe for sending confidential PIN messages back and forth. They are not waking to the reality that is not the case, and that companies can access all communication sent and received through a company-issued BlackBerry. What's more, the messages relayed can then be subpoenaed in court, as has happened in the CIBC case. IT experts say all messages sent on a BlackBerry can be stored in corporate computers. The only way around this is to disconnect the device from the server and change to a personal email account through a private Internet service provider. In the CIBC case, the bank isn't saying how it got access to the BlackBerry messages, but states in its lawsuit that the executives "seemed to have believed [they] did not create any record of their emails on the [bank's] central computer systems." Legal experts say the case marks one of the first times that a Canadian employer has used such communications against former employees in a public court battle. You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
