Indian government get access to BlackBerry messages
After a battle lasting almost two years, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has knuckled under to the Indian government, giving security forces in that country access to private instant messages.
RIM decided to set up Blackberry servers that were stationed in Mumbai, India. If you were thinking that this move could only lead to the Indian government seeking more control over what goes in and out of RIM's Blackberry servers, you would be right on the money.
Not only has the Indian government gotten their way with the Blackberry servers, but they will now be able to tap into BBM messages. This was confirmed by Indian security agencies who revealed that the process to decrypt the 256-bit encrypted data used by BBM is underway and would be up and running soon, claiming that the interception of BBM messages will be used in case where the government suspects that crimes or terror plots are being hatched.
It should also be noted that the tapping of BBM only affects those on BIS as BES encryption keys are specific to every installation, while BIS' encryption key is shared. While India may be the first country granted official access to some of RIM's data.
