The Hindu Business Line : BlackBerry key is not in our hands, says RIM

New Delhi, May 26 For the first time since the controversy around BlackBerry broke out, Canada-based Research In Motion has broken its silence on the security concerns raised by the Indian Government and said that it is not possible for it to give decryption codes or set up a local data centre in the country. RIM said that it was offering services in 135 countries and various Governments around the world have their own resources to snoop into telecom networks without compromising on commercial security requirements.

The Department of Telecom had earlier asked RIM to give its codes to Indian security agencies that will enable them to monitor the data being transmitted through BlackBerry. The key problem is that the Indian agencies do not have the technology required to monitor data that has encryption codes higher than 40 bits.

In a note to its customers sent on May 23, RIM said, “The use of strong encryption in wireless technology is not unique to the BlackBerry platform. Strong encryption is used pervasively on the Internet to protect the confidentiality of personal and corporate information. Governments have a wide range of resources and methodologies to satisfy national security and law enforcement needs without compromising commercial security requirements.”

RIM said that its network is designed in such a way that it does not allow any third party, including RIM, to read information under any circumstances. “RIM would simply be unable to accommodate any request for a copy of a customer’s encryption key since at no time does RIM, or any wireless network operator, ever possess a copy of the key.”

‘Irrelevant factors’

On the issue of setting up a local data centre within the country, RIM said that BlackBerry was designed to perform as a global system independent of geography. “The location of data centres and the customer’s choice of wireless network are irrelevant factors from a security perspective since end-to-end encryption is utilised,” RIM said.

The company, which has had several rounds of meetings with various Government agencies to find a solution to the security concerns, said that BlackBerry has been validated through various formal and independent security certifications. “RIM remains positive about the ongoing use of strong encryption in enterprise class information technologies and believes that government security requirements in countries around the world, including India, will continue to be achieved.”

While services such as voice calls and general e-mail platforms such as Yahoo and Gmail are easily cracked into, high end data services like the one provided by BlackBerry use secure data protection network. Even online banking and e-commerce portals use high encryption codes to keep the transaction protected. The Government’s final decision on BlackBerry could have an impact on all such services.