Earlier this week, the news dropped that at least two police agencies have found ways to look at encrypted info on BlackBerry devices. BlackBerry has finally responded to this. Here’s what they said via a blog post:
BlackBerry does not have any details on the specific device or the way that it was configured, managed or otherwise protected, nor do we have details on the nature of the communications that are claimed to have been decrypted.
If such an information recovery did happen, access to this information from a BlackBerry device could be due to factors unrelated to how the BlackBerry device was designed, such as user consent, an insecure third party application, or deficient security behavior of the user.
Furthermore, there are no backdoors in any BlackBerry devices, and BlackBerry does not store and therefore cannot share BlackBerry device passwords with law enforcement or anyone else. In other words, provided that users follow recommended practices, BlackBerry devices remain as secure and private as they have always been.
Translation: Nothing to see here. Move along.
I was kind of hoping that BlackBerry would say something more convincing. But in the absence of the cops telling them how they pulled this off, assuming that they actually did, I guess a more robust answer isn’t possible. Pity. That still leaves unanswered questions and doubt circulating. My guess is that this is not over quite yet.