BlackBerry has beefed up the security of its BlackBerry Messenger service in a bid to shore up its enterprise business.
The firm announced its new BBM Protected secure messaging feature, within its eBBM suite, is now available to enterprise customers.
BlackBerry said the first product in the eBBM Suite, which was announced earlier this year, is being delivered ahead of schedule. BBM Protected will work within the standard BBM app.
The mobile messaging app uses FIPS 140-2 cryptographic library-enabled messaging not only between users within the same organisations but also between organisations that also use BBM Protected. They do not need to be on the same BES server and no federation between servers is required.
A Triple DES 168-bit BBM scrambling key encrypts messages on the sender's smartphone, and is used to authenticate and decrypt messages on the recipient's phone.
Jeff Gadway, head of product and brand marketing for BBM, said BBM Protected adds an additional layer of encryption to the existing BBM security model.
"The first time that two BBM Protected users go to establish a chat, they will be required to share a secret passphrase to authenticate their identities and generate the BBM Protected encryption key used to secure their chat," he said.
According to the firm's website, BBM Protected is added as an IT policy through the BES console. "There's no new hardware to purchase, no new servers to install, and no BlackBerry smartphone OS updates required. And with IT policy amalgamation, you can quickly add BBM Protected to existing IT policies," the firm said.
Business users with BlackBerry smartphones running BBOS 6.0 or later or BlackBerry 10 in Regulated mode can use the app now with versions of BBM Protected for BlackBerry 10 smartphones via BlackBerry Balance. Support for iOS and Android devices will come later this year.
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Capita tells pension provider to 'assume' nearly 500,000 customers' data stolenCapita told the pension provider to “work on the assumption” that data had been stolen
-
Sophos XGS 116 review: A small and mighty applianceReviews This clever and compact security gateway brings outstanding security and remote management features at a tempting price
-
WatchGuard Firebox M290 review: Stiff security at a great priceReviews The Firebox M290 delivers an incredible range of gateway security measures priced right for SMBs
-
Sophos XGS 3300 review: Xstream firewall performanceReviews A powerful firewall appliance combining hardware acceleration with a vast array of security measures
-
Gumtree site code made personal data of users and sellers publicly accessibleNews Anyone could scan the website's HTML code to reveal personal information belonging to users of the popular second-hand classified adverts website
-
Pizza chain exposed 100,000 employees' Social Security numbersNews Former and current staff at California Pizza Kitchen potentially burned by hackers
-
Ubiquiti Networks UniFi Dream Machine Pro review: All the security you need in one handy boxReviews An affordable security gateway that can take care of a wide range of security needs
-
Big zero-day flaw found in Palo Alto security applianceNews Vulnerability in GlobalProtect VPN could enable hackers to take control of the security system
