[slapshotz]

Hi. I apologize if i'm not allowed to post here, but my question is for BES administrators.

I'm new to BB and don't understand how BES works. My question is, what does my IT administrator have access to on my BB when using BES?

i'm not worried about appointments, email or contacts, but i was told they could also accesss personal email accounts, phone logs, all my text messages, and files like my ewallet passwords...basically anything i keep on my blackberry.

Your help and advice is TRULY appreciated.

[wunderbar]

a BES administrator has access to every bit of data that passes through, phone calls, SMS, personal email, everything. Basically, if you don't want your boss to see something, don't put it on your blackberry, because it's possible.

[knottyrope]

We see everything.

[slapshotz]

Originally Posted by wunderbar

a BES administrator has access to every bit of data that passes through, phone calls, SMS, personal email, everything. Basically, if you don't want your boss to see something, don't put it on your blackberry, because it's possible.

thanks for this info. i'm surprised more people aren't bothered by this. having all the data i keep on a pda accessible to my IT department is pretty much a deal breaker for me. Too much security risk since I don't know how big the IT department is, and who works there.

[audit]

Not a security risk if your not doing anything that would land you with a new roommate called Bubba or risk losing your job over. If you think that the Blackberry is the only thing that IT can monitor, your sadly mistaken. I can tell EVERYONE in my company what sites they are visiting, logins/passwords for those sites, calls made on their desk phones, etc.

[slapshotz]

let me clarify my concern. nothing illegal going on...i'm a pretty boring person but my two primary concerns are that i guess i'm touchy on the privacy issue, so i don't want my coworkers to see my personal email.

more importantly, we outsource our exchange administration, so if somebody in a data center in Arizona has access to things like my password files that i keep in ewallet, that seems like some kind of risk.

[shashinp5]

Originally Posted by slapshotz

let me clarify my concern. nothing illegal going on...i'm a pretty boring person but my two primary concerns are that i guess i'm touchy on the privacy issue, so i don't want my coworkers to see my personal email.

more importantly, we outsource our exchange administration, so if somebody in a data center in Arizona has access to things like my password files that i keep in ewallet, that seems like some kind of risk.

It's not about wrong or right, it's for the organization to protect itself. Depending on the industry your company is in, they may very well be obligated and required to log and monitor all kinds of information that passes through their systems. The simple rule is, if anything you use will use company resources (email, web, phones, wireless networks, etc) then it mostly likely can and possibly might be monitored. If the phone you are using belongs to the company or the company pays for the service, then they have the right to monitor it anyway they see fit.

[DarthBBerry]

Originally Posted by slapshotz

let me clarify my concern. nothing illegal going on...i'm a pretty boring person but my two primary concerns are that i guess i'm touchy on the privacy issue, so i don't want my coworkers to see my personal email.

more importantly, we outsource our exchange administration, so if somebody in a data center in Arizona has access to things like my password files that i keep in ewallet, that seems like some kind of risk.

To ease your concerns, there's a solution:
Keep your work related items on the work BlackBerry.
Don't add ANY personal info to the work BlackBerry.

In our organization (being a government entity), we tell folks that if they want all of their personal information that they want on a BlackBerry to appear on the front page of the newspaper or as the lead story on the 6pm news... they by all mean... add your personal crap to the BlackBerry. Otherwise, get your own device and keep it separate.

[cdstanky]

What exactly could they possibly access if I may ask? besides BIS emails etc.. How about photo's stored on the memory card? The phone belongs to me however I pay for my BES service to receive my work emails on the phone. I really dont like the idea that IT could access my photo's and contact lists.


Thank you

[knottyrope]

If you connect to a BES server then BESADMIN can see what they want.


BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU

[DavidAdams]

Personally I don't care but does that include the contents of eWallet/Password Keeper type stuff that is passworded and encrypted on the device?

[icontech]

The default configuration of a BES server only logs phone calls but not text or PIN messages. We actually turned off phone call logging because we don't need it. So this really depends on what type of BES admin or policies your company has in place.

I imagine you have a personally owned device? If its a company owned device then you can't really complain about what is logged or monitored since you don't own it.

And if the IT employees are spending time looking at peoples email all day then they won't have a job for much longer.

[knottyrope]

Originally Posted by icontech

And if the IT employees are spending time looking at peoples email all day then they won't have a job for much longer.

8+ years reading email, YAY!

[Sherrera]

OK, So if I need to monitor emails for my Organization how to I log the actual content?

[stuwhite]

Originally Posted by Sherrera

OK, So if I need to monitor emails for my Organization how to I log the actual content?

If you want to actually monitor email you should be looking at something other than the BES. And make sure you are not getting yourself into trouble by doing something which breaks the law somewhere. If your users are in place A and your mail server is in place B (and maybe you are in place C), ensure that nothing you do with regard to reading/monitoring email contravenes an applicable law.

Contrary to what people think, personal info on a company device is subject to a degree of protection (here in the EU anyway) and while the device is owned by the company (and I agree with what everyone else says about "don't store your personal stuff on a company device if you are bothered"), you have no implicit right (here in the EU) to access data of a personal nature, regardless of the ownership of the storage medium. I am pretty sure this protection is extended to any citizen of the EU, ragrdless of the data location; so if you are in the US and access personal data for an EU user, you may automatically be governed by our information protection laws.

Bit off topic here I know but monitoring email isn't somerthing you want to get involved in unless you really have to, take it from a seasoned messaging admin :-> And if you have to do it make sure you understand how the law applies to you, the guy switching the stuff on, as you are generally more liable than anyone else in the org

[freakinvibe]

Sorry, but SMS and calls can be logged by the BESAdmin but NOT the contents. So the Admin could see when I called which number, but of course there is no voice recording of the actual content of that call. The same with SMS, the content can't be seen.

I don't know eWallet, but I know "Password Keeper" which is a repository of your passwords. This is encrypted and can't be read by the admin. The only content an admin can read is mails, appointments, tasks and notes. But he can do that on Exchange directly anyway.

So I don't think Blackberry brings in any new security concerns.

[icontech]

Originally Posted by freakinvibe

Sorry, but SMS and calls can be logged by the BESAdmin but NOT the contents. So the Admin could see when I called which number, but of course there is no voice recording of the actual content of that call. The same with SMS, the content can't be seen.

I don't know eWallet, but I know "Password Keeper" which is a repository of your passwords. This is encrypted and can't be read by the admin. The only content an admin can read is mails, appointments, tasks and notes. But he can do that on Exchange directly anyway.

So I don't think Blackberry brings in any new security concerns.

Thanks for the info I thought the text in the SMS message was actually logged. Thats good to know...

[CanuckBB]

Originally Posted by icontech

Thanks for the info I thought the text in the SMS message was actually logged. Thats good to know...

Sorry to disapoint you, but the body of the SMS IS logged.

[freakinvibe]

Can you explain exactly where this is logged?

[CanuckBB]

It is in a text file in the LOGS folder on the BES.