Etisalat Network In The United Arab Emirates Spying On It's BlackBerry Users?!

We all know how secure the BlackBerry platform is as a whole when it comes to those devices being deployed in an enterprise atmosphere. It has been proven time and time again that BlackBerry is the device of security that companies need to handle their sensitive information while mobile. However, a recent update on Etisalat network in the UAE has caused some concerns amongst those affected.

As The Register reports, it seems as though an update to its customers' BlackBerry devices was pushed out via a "WAP Push" message that enabled security breaches on those devices which allowed for such things as remote monitoring of SMS messages as well as email messages.

While the breach may have gone unnoticed for some, users began to complain about an extremely reduced battery life on their devices which was completely out of the norm. From the information gathered, the developer of the downloaded application essentially flooded the network with all the BlackBerry devices sending in information at such a rapid pace the servers could not handle it, nor could the device's battery as it was constantly sending out updates to said server.

What ever happened here is something that will likely never get explained to us all as it seems to have been quickly cleaned up with no official announcement from the carrier or RIM. Is this a cause for concern at this point? I'd argue not really as it's a rather isolated incident but it does beg the question What exactly went on that we all are not aware of?


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