Mobile By Lee Mathews Jan. 12, 2016 11:15 am
One of the main reasons BlackBerry is still hanging around is their reputation for offering secure devices and software. Only their devices aren’t as bulletproof as you might think, according to Dutch police.
The Netherlands Forensic Institute, a group that assists law enforcement in their investigative efforts, was recently asked to retrieve information from an encrypted BlackBerry. The device reportedly contained 325 emails, and NFI was able to successfully extract 279 of them. That’s a pretty high success rate, especially considering that BlackBerry devices are thought by several people to be about as bulletproof as smartphones get.
This wasn’t just an ordinary BlackBerry, either. It reportedly had the content protection feature switched on, which allows users to send and receive PGP/MIME messages. Vice, however, points to a report from two years ago about two different methods that can be used to extract that data in spite of the added protection.
The NFI wasn’t willing to offer up any details as to how they cracked the BlackBerry in question, however, the Dutch site Crime News believes that they enlisted the aid of a company like Cellebrite. Cellebrite boasts that their forensic tools are being used by law enforcement agencies in 100 countries “to produce evidence you can stand behind,” and that they maintain close relationships with both smartphone OEMs and wireless carriers.
If you’re wondering why a company that built its reputation on privacy and security would work with Cellebrite to undermine it, this statement from BlackBerry CEO should clear things up: “our privacy commitment doesn't extend to criminals.” Doesn’t get much clearer than that, does it?