Editing BlackBerry (section)

== Security agencies access ==
Research in Motion agreed to give access to private communications to the governments of [[United Arab Emirates]]<ref>{{cite web |title=RIM averts BlackBerry ban in UAE |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/rim-averts-blackberry-ban-in-uae/ |access-date=September 3, 2015 |date=October 8, 2010 |website=CNET |last=Whitney |first=Lance}}</ref> and [[Saudi Arabia]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=RIM reaches deal with Saudi Arabia |url=https://www.thestar.com/business/2010/08/10/rim_reaches_deal_with_saudi_arabia.html |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=August 10, 2010 |access-date=September 3, 2015 |issn=0319-0781 |first=Madhavi Acharya-Tom |last=Yew}}</ref> in 2010, and India in 2012.<ref>{{Cite news |title=RIM gives India access to BlackBerry messages |url=https://www.thestar.com/business/2012/04/07/rim_gives_india_access_to_blackberry_messages.html |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=April 7, 2012 |access-date=September 3, 2015 |issn=0319-0781 |first=Josh |last=Rubin}}</ref> The Saudi and UAE governments had threatened to ban certain services because their law enforcement agencies could not decrypt messages between people of interest.<ref>{{cite news |title=Two Gulf states to ban some Blackberry functions |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-10830485 |access-date=September 3, 2015 |date=August 1, 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

It was revealed as a part of the [[2013 mass surveillance disclosures]] that the American and British intelligence agencies, the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA) and the [[Government Communications Headquarters]] (GCHQ) respectively, have access to the user data on BlackBerry devices. The agencies are able to read almost all smartphone information, including SMS, location, e-mails, and notes through BlackBerry Internet Service, which operates outside corporate networks, and which, in contrast to the data passing through internal BlackBerry services (BES), only compresses but does not encrypt data.<ref name=spiegel20130907>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/how-the-nsa-spies-on-smartphones-including-the-blackberry-a-921161.html |title=Privacy Scandal: NSA Can Spy on Smart Phone Data |date=September 7, 2013 |access-date=September 7, 2013 |work=[[Der Spiegel]]}}</ref>

Documents stated that the NSA was able to access the BlackBerry e-mail system and that they could "see and read SMS traffic".<ref name=spiegel20130907/> There was a brief period in 2009 when the NSA was unable to access BlackBerry devices, after BlackBerry changed the way they compress their data. Access to the devices was re-established by GCHQ.<ref name=spiegel20130907/> GCHQ has a tool named SCRAPHEAP CHALLENGE, with the capability of "Perfect spoofing of emails from Blackberry targets".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://firstlook.org/theintercept/document/2014/07/14/jtrig-tools-techniques/ |title=JTRIG Tools and Techniques |website=[[The Intercept]] |date=July 14, 2014 |access-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714224430/https://firstlook.org/theintercept/document/2014/07/14/jtrig-tools-techniques/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=JTRIG Tools and Techniques |url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1217406-jtrigall.html#document/p4 |website=Documentcloud.org |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref>

In response to the revelations BlackBerry officials stated that "It is not for us to comment on media reports regarding alleged government surveillance of telecommunications traffic" and added that a "back door pipeline" to their platform had not been established and did not exist.<ref name=spiegel20130907/>

Similar access by the intelligence agencies to many other mobile devices exists, using similar techniques to hack into them.<ref name=spiegel20130907/>

The BlackBerry software includes support for the [[Dual EC DRBG]] CSPRNG algorithm which, due to being probably [[backdoor (computing)|backdoor]]ed by the [[NSA]], the US [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] "strongly recommends" no longer be used. BlackBerry Ltd. has however not issued an advisory to its customers, because they do not consider the probable backdoor a vulnerability. BlackBerry Ltd. also owns US patent 2007189527, which covers the technical design of the backdoor.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jeffrey |last=Carr |url=http://jeffreycarr.blogspot.dk/2014/01/blackberry-ltd-nsa-and-encryption.html |title=BlackBerry Ltd, the NSA, and The Encryption Algorithm that NIST Warned You Not To Use |work=Digital Dao |date=January 24, 2014 |access-date=January 27, 2014}}</ref>