Is there a way for someone to have changed my password malicoisly, lets say in a public area if they either knew or guessed my password?

Thanks

If they knew the password or guessed it, and if they had possession of the device for 5 minutes, yes. Remotely, no, unless the unit is on BES.

Well, my password has been changed, have had with me all the time, or it's been locked. But about the sime time BB services were down, my password (to unlock the device) no longer worked. I'm on my 8th attempt, and have not been able to back up lately since I have been on travel for quite some time... I guess I can't avoid the 10th attempt....? thank you

My next question, can it be changed by BES to whatever I want?

At this point you have little choice but to wipe it and restore from your last backup.

Are you on a BES? if so you can contact the administrator to change it for you.