User guide
Process flow: Deleting all device data from a BlackBerry device
The following actions occur when you or a user delete all device data.
1. The BlackBerry® device adds a Device Under Attack flag to the NV store. If a user removes the battery or the battery power
drops to zero before the process ends, when the user replaces the battery, the process continues because the Device Under
Attack flag is still present.
2. The BlackBerry device deletes the IT policy public key from the NV store to remove its binding with the BlackBerry® Enterprise
Server. The BlackBerry device can bind to another BlackBerry Enterprise Server at a later time. The BlackBerry device does
not use the memory-scrubbing process to overwrite the IT policy public key because it is not a protected or hidden value.
3. If applicable, the BlackBerry device deletes authentication information (for example, the binding information for the smart
card) from the NV store. The BlackBerry device can bind to another smart card at a later time.
4. The BlackBerry device turns off the wireless transceiver.
5. The BlackBerry device deletes data in the persistent store in flash memory, including references to the device transport key
and the copy of the principal encryption key.
6. If applicable, the BlackBerry device formats the on-board device memory on the BlackBerry device.
7. The BlackBerry device overwrites the flash memory with zeroes.
8. The BlackBerry device deletes the BlackBerry device password from the NV store.
9. If you or a user turned on content protection, the memory-scrub process overwrites the file system of the BlackBerry device
flash memory and on-board BlackBerry device memory. The memory-scrub process overwrites the BlackBerry device heap
in RAM, changing the state of each bit four times.
10. If you or a user specified that the data on the media card must be deleted, the memory scrub process overwrites the media
card.
11. The BlackBerry device deletes the Device Under Attack flag from the NV store.
12. The BlackBerry device restarts.
Scrubbing the memory of a BlackBerry device when deleting all BlackBerry
device data
When you or a user deletes all BlackBerry® device data for a BlackBerry device when content protection is turned on, the BlackBerry
device runs the memory scrub process to overwrite the BlackBerry device heap that is in RAM, the flash memory, and the files
that a user saved on the BlackBerry device.
Security Technical Overview
Scrubbing the memory of a BlackBerry device when deleting all BlackBerry device data
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