Blackbe;rry INTERNET SERVICE - SECURITY Installation guide

BlackBerry Internet Service
Version: 3.0
Security Feature Overview

SWD-787371-0205030633-001

Contents
Overview..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Security features........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Browsing...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Email messages and instant messages................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Attachments............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
BlackBerry device firewall......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Spam email messages............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Encryption of login information................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Security options.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Using passwords........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Encrypting your BlackBerry device data.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Encrypting your media card data............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Protecting your GPS location information.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Controlling your downloaded applications............................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Cleaning memory....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Deleting all BlackBerry device data......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Glossary....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Provide feedback........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Legal notice................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Overview
The BlackBerry® Internet Service is designed to provide you with automatic delivery of email messages, mobile access to attachments, and
convenient access to Internet content.
TheBlackBerryInternetServiceusesthesecurityofthewirelessnetworkthatitconnectsto.EmailmessagesthataresentbetweentheBlackBerry
Internet Service and your BlackBerry device are not encrypted. However, email messages that are sent between the BlackBerry Internet Service
and your messaging server can be encrypted using SSL encryption. SSL encryption can also be used by the BlackBerry® Browser and other
applications on your BlackBerry device to help protect your data when you connect to the Internet (for example, while shopping and banking
online). You can also set up your BlackBerry device to help protect it from theft, viruses, and spyware.
Security Feature Overview Overview
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Security features
Browsing
Your BlackBerry® device uses SSL encryption to create a highly secure connection to shopping web sites and banking web sites. SSL is the
standard encryption protocol that is used in many online banking transactions, ecommerce transactions, and other wireless transactions on
mobile devices and computers. Using a highly secure connection helps to protect you against identity theft and unauthorized use of your
financial data.
You can determine whether SSL encryption is helping to protect data that you send or receive using the BlackBerry Browser. When your
connection uses SSL encryption, a closed lock icon appears in the upper-right corner of the browser screen. When your connection does not
use SSL encryption, an open lock icon appears.
Email messages and instant messages
Email messages and instant messages that are sent between the BlackBerry® Internet Service and your BlackBerry device use the security
features of the wireless network. Messages that are sent between your messaging server and the BlackBerry Internet Service are automatically
encrypted if the server supports SSL encryption.
Attachments
Your BlackBerry® device does not run applications that you receive as attachments in email messages. The BlackBerry® Internet Service
processes attachments and renders them in a format that is designed to protect you from potentially damaging attachment code such as
macros.
To protect the received attachments that your BlackBerry device stores, you can turn on the content protection feature.
Related topics
Encrypting your BlackBerry device data, 5
BlackBerry device firewall
You can set up the built-in firewall on your BlackBerry® device to block incoming SMS text messages and PIN messages, both of which are not
encrypted. If your messaging servers support SSL encryption, you can make sure that you only receive messages that are protected by SSL
encryption on your BlackBerry device by blocking incoming SMS text messages and PIN messages.
Security Feature Overview Security features
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Spam email messages
The BlackBerry® Internet Service has an anti-spam system that is designed to block spam email messages that are sent to your BlackBerry
email address. This feature helps to protect you against the inconvenience and potential privacy threat of email messages that are not intended
specifically for you.
For additional control of spam email messages, you can create email message filters to prevent unwanted email messages from being delivered
to your BlackBerry device.
Encryption of login information
When you log in to the BlackBerry® Internet Service web site using a browser on your computer, the BlackBerry Internet Service uses SSL
encryption to help protect your login information and any changes you make to your login information. This encryption is designed to protect
your user names, passwords, and other BlackBerry Internet Service account information from unauthorized access.
Security Feature Overview Security features
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Security options
Using passwords
You can set a password to help protect your BlackBerry® device from unauthorized use.
You can also use the password keeper to store all of the passwords that you use to access applications and web sites on your BlackBerry device.
You need to remember only the password keeper password to retrieve all of your stored passwords.
Encrypting your BlackBerry device data
When you set up encryption of your BlackBerry® device data using the content protection feature, your BlackBerry device is designed to be
protected against users with malicious intent who could attempt to steal your data directly from the internal hardware. No one can read your
encrypted data without your device password.
IntheSecurityOptions,youcan set the Content Protection Strengthlevel.TheBlackBerrydevicethen encrypts your data (for example,messages,
contact entries, and tasks). The Content Protection Strength level optimizes either the encryption strength or the decryption time. When your
BlackBerry device decrypts a message that it received while locked, the BlackBerry device uses an encryption key. More encryption strength
means a longer decryption process.
If you set the content protection strength to Stronger, use a minimum length of 12 characters for the BlackBerry device password. If you set
the content protection strength to Strongest, use a minimum length of 21 characters. These password lengths maximize the encryption strength
that these settings are designed to provide.
Encrypting your media card data
Your BlackBerry® device is designed to encrypt media data that you store on a media card according to the Encrypt Media Files field in the
Memory section of the device options.
This encryption does not apply to files that you manually transfer to a media card (for example, from a storage device using mass storage mode).
When you store a file on a media card for the first time after you turn on mass storage mode, the BlackBerry device decrypts the encryption
key for the external memory file and uses it to automatically encrypt the stored file.
For more information about encrypting media card data, visit www.blackberry.com/support to read article KB16088.
Security Feature Overview Security options
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Protecting your GPS location information
Your BlackBerry® device stores GPS location information. Third-party applications and preloaded BlackBerrydevice applications that support
location-based services can use that GPS location information. For example, you can use BlackBerry® Maps to get the GPS location of your
BlackBerry device. However, third-party applications cannot access your GPS location information automatically.
When applications have access to your GPS location information, they could potentially track your location or report your location back to a
server. To prevent applications from using the GPS location of your BlackBerry device, perform any of the following actions:
• Block specific third-party applications from using the GPS location information.
• Block all third-party applications from using location-based services.
• Turn off GPS technology on your BlackBerry device.
• Delete the BlackBerry Maps application from your BlackBerry device.
Controlling your downloaded applications
You can download third-party applications for your BlackBerry® device over the wireless network by using the BlackBerry® Browser. A third-
party application can communicate and share data with other third-party applications and BlackBerry device applications. Third-party
applications can also access your calendar entries, email messages, and contacts.
BlackBerry device applications include inherent virus protection and spyware protection that is designed to contain and prevent the spread of
viruses and spyware to other applications.
When you download an application, you are prompted to confirm that you trust the source. If you trust the application, the application is installed
on your BlackBerry device. You can proactively protect your BlackBerry device from viruses and spyware by only downloading applications from
trustworthy sources.
You can use the application controls on your BlackBerry device to prevent the installation of specific third-party applications and to limit the
permissions of third-party applications, including the following items:
• resources that third-party applications can access (for example, the messages application, phone application, and BlackBerry device key
store)
•types of connections that a third-party application that is running on your BlackBerry device can establish (for example, local connections,
internal connections, and external connections)
For more information about changing application controls, see the user guide for your BlackBerry device.
Cleaning memory
By default, your BlackBerry® device continually cleans temporary memory to remove sensitive data that is no longer being used.
The BlackBerry device can perform the following additional cleaning actions:
Security Feature Overview Security options
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• overwrite memory
•periodicallyrun the memory cleaning application,which causes applications to empty any caches, free memory, and automatically overwrite
the freed memory
The BlackBerry device performs additional cleaning actions during any of the following situations:
• you turn on the content protection feature
• a third-party application that you have downloaded registers with the memory cleaning application
You can set the memory cleaning application to run when you insert your BlackBerry device into the holster or when your BlackBerry device
remains idle for a specified period of time. You can also manually run the memory cleaning application on your BlackBerry device, run specific
registered memory cleaners in the Security Options on your BlackBerry device, and turn on or turn off memory cleaning.
Deleting all BlackBerry device data
Your BlackBerry® device is designed to permanently delete your stored data and application data when you type your BlackBerry device
password incorrectly more than 10 times or you click Wipe Handheld (in the Security Options). When you click Wipe Handheld, you can also
select the Include third party applications option to remove all third-party applications and application data from your BlackBerry device.
Before you resell your BlackBerry device, consider using one of the preceding methods to delete all of your data so that the person that buys
your BlackBerry device cannot access your personal information.
For more information about preparing your BlackBerry device for resale, visit www.blackberry.com/support to read article KB05099.
Security Feature Overview Security options
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Glossary
GPS
Global Positioning System
PIN
personal identification number
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer
Security Feature Overview Glossary
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