How secure?

[blackberry1dave]

On a scale from “safer tattooed on my forehead” to “Fort Knox”, how secure is the Password Keeper function? I’m a bit of a technophobe who doesn’t entirely trust/understand the whole wireless-access thing, so I use abbreviations in the Keeper, which can be a headache sometimes. Is my paranoia justified? Also, could somebody hack into my office computer and get my passwords through one of my BB’s backup files? Thanks.

[TroyDBrown]

On a scale from “safer tattooed on my forehead” to “Fort Knox”, how secure is the Password Keeper function? I’m a bit of a technophobe who doesn’t entirely trust/understand the whole wireless-access thing, so I use abbreviations in the Keeper, which can be a headache sometimes. Is my paranoia justified? Also, could somebody hack into my office computer and get my passwords through one of my BB’s backup files? Thanks.

Safer than Fort Knox, Fort Knox is protected by people. Password keeper is protected by you password. It is as safe as your password is to guess.

[SteveO86]

The BlackBerry will be the most secure device on the market... ( Enabling a password, should be good enough for the everyday consumer)

No amount of security will protect you however if you have an easily guess password or have it written down in plain site.

[david9962000]

If you lock your device with a different password than password keeper it will be even safer. it's what I do.

[TroyDBrown]

If you lock your device with a different password than password keeper it will be even safer. it's what I do.

Very True!

[dc/dc]

I don't use Password Keeper.

[david9962000]

It's a great feature to keep all your user names and passwords, to pay bills for example. Or secret info like bank acct, drivers license #...

[blackberry1dave]

Thanks for the peace of mind, everyone.

I've changed the Keeper password so it's different from the lock. Good idea there! (y)

[alb123]

I use BOTH BB PW Keeper and Ascendo Data Vault. Both, I'm obviously putting 100% complete trust in, or I wouldn't use them. From what I've read, overheard and directly spoken to vetern BB users - you would be very hard-pressed to find a more secure device. And I think 50,000,000+ units sold worldwide pretty much backs up that statement.

Chris

[SteveO86]

I've been Ascendo Data Vault for over a year now, great program saved me a few times and the desktop sync is something I wish the password kepper would have. Very customizable which is really nice.

[rambo47]

I recall reading that the basic level of encryption used in the Blackberry OS is 2048-bit. If the NSA (http://www.nsa.gov/) wants in, they'll get in. Everybody else? Not happening.

[SteveO86]

According to RIM's KB Article:

Content protection setting Encryption strength
Strong 80 bits
Stronger 128 bits
Strongest 256 bits

View Document (http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/dynamickc.do?externalId=KB15368&sliceId=SAL_Public&command=show&forward=nonthreadedKC&kcId=KB15368)



The following article goes a little more in-depth, stating the length of the password will increase the encryption algorithm.

Guidelines for setting the internal memory encryption level
When the content-protected BlackBerry device decrypts a message that it received while locked, the BlackBerry device uses the ECC private key in the decryption operation. The longer the ECC key, the more time the ECC decryption operation adds to the BlackBerry device decryption process. Choose a content protection strength level that optimizes either the ECC encryption strength or the decryption time.
If you set the content protection strength to Stronger (to use a 283-bit ECC key) or to Strongest (to use a 571-bit ECC key), consider setting the Minimum Password Length IT policy rule to enforce a minimum BlackBerry device password length of 12 characters or 21 characters, respectively. These password lengths maximize the encryption strength that the longer ECC keys are designed to provide. The BlackBerry device uses the BlackBerry device password to generate the ephemeral 256-bit AES encryption key that the BlackBerry device uses to encrypt the content protection key and the ECC private key. A weak password produces a weak ephemeral key.


http://na.blackberry.com/eng/deliverables/3940/file_encryption_STO.pdf