For quite a while now, we’ve seen BlackBerry ads focusing on the power of BBM. One that stands out is what many like to call BBM Flirt. I don’t know if it’s me, but I couldn’t see myself walking up to a complete stranger and asking for their PIN (I know my wife would have something to say about it). As soon as I think about that, I then wonder how many times I’ve added someone from the BlackBerry community to BBM and I have never even met them. I think many of us are like that. We use BBM to keep in touch with colleagues, friends and family –people that we’ve come to know and trust in some way or another. The idea of someone I don’t really know, having something, as unique as my BlackBerry PIN, scares me; especially if I was single. What if it didn’t work out? Sure you could delete them from BlackBerry Messenger, and ignore future invitations, but they can still send PIN to PIN messages (very creepy). It’s easier (and more cost effective) to switch phone numbers than to buy a new BlackBerry.

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With all the news these days of about encryption on the BlackBerry solution there is a great amount of misunderstood reporting in the media on just what is at stake between RIM and governments of the world. I'm not going to pretend that this article will be the ultimate encryption thesis it's my hope to explain things plainly and clearly.

As global terrorism rages, governments are trying to keep up with the perpetrators and the BlackBerry has become the symbol of all that is secure. Many government agencies themselves use BlackBerry devices for their security, so it's understandable that they would be concerned with encrypted communications of terrorist BlackBerry devices. Various countries have been in the news lately demanding that RIM give them the keys to read all the BlackBerry traffic within their countries. Many have put down deadlines if RIM does not comply they will close down all BlackBerry traffic inside that country. That potentially wouldn't be a problem is these demand were being made by Madagascar but the countries are India and United Arab Emirates.

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** 18 Jun 2010 Update: We posted this article a few days ago (for a few minutes it was live) but we took it down temporarily after some comments were added by community members questioning it. We wanted to double check and follow up with the supporting data; after some additional research we have verified the information in this post is correct. If you have any questions on it, leave it in the comments and we'll do our best to address them. **

If I had a nickel every time I've been asked the question "Is PIN-to-PIN secure?" then I could quit my day job and write for CrackBerry full time. In my day job this has come up constantly from all types of BlackBerry users. It's a very good question... it seems secure, doesn't it?

The simple answer to this question is YES & NO. PIN-to-PIN is encrypted using Triple Data Encryption Standard (Triple DES). PIN-to-PIN security is very controversial topic. For sure, it's far more secure than regular email because the "internet tubes" are not part of the message path the way they would be in an email message. In the case of PIN-to-PIN the message flow looks like this:

• Sending BlackBerry Handheld to Wireless Network
• Wireless Network to RIM Relay
• RIM Relay to Receiving BlackBerry's Wireless Network
• Wireless Network to Receiving BlackBerry Handheld

What's interesting is that BlackBerry Messenger works the PIN protocol and nobody's ever asked if that was secure.

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