BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) today started BBM Protected for secure end-to-end BBM messages. As per BlackBerry, BBM Protected allows company employees to have enhanced secure communication over the corporate network.
BlackBerry says whether it’s a security conscious organization or a regulated business, the FIPS 140-2 certified cryptographic BBM Protected gives the enhanced security model for BBM messages
protecting data in-transit with the added layer of encryption.
In-Transit Data Protected
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) reports that BBM Protected is designed to give full end-to-end message encryption, that is from send top receive, the message is secured by three layers of security.
- In addition to the existing BBM security model, BBM Protected adds a new layer of encryption. This uses a PGP similar model using public/private keys on the sender and receiver and the keys are generated on the device using FIPS 140-2 certified cryptographic which is controlled by the enterprise.
- A Triple DES 168-bit BBM scrambling key responsible for encrypting messages on the sender’s phone and will authenticate on the receiver’s phone.
- There’s also TLS encryption between the smartphone and the BBM infrastructure.
BlackBerry says BBM Protected adds another layer of security to their already well known BlackBerry security model. Regulated organizations care a great deal about this addition of security such as government clients, contractors or law firms in regulated areas or work.
Back in March 2014, BlackBerry achieved FIPS 140-2 certification and that was why all G7 Governments and 10 of the world’s largest companies use BlackBerry to secure their mobility.
Previously, BlackBerry cited a report by Forester Research saying Security and Risk Professionals looking to move away from BlackBerry should rethink their strategy.
Ease of Deployment
BlackBerry says you can add BBM Protected to your IT policy through your BES console you are currently using without the need for new hardware, software or BlackBerry Smartphone updates.
BBM Protected work with current auditing and logging of which are available through BES and works with BlackBerry OS devices running 6.0 or later and BlackBerry 10 devices running OS 10 or later.
