User guide

Best practice: Protecting unsecured wireless messaging on the BlackBerry

device

Unsecured wireless messaging includes SMS text messages, MMS messages, and PIN messages. A BlackBerry® device can send

SMS text messages and MMS messages over a wireless TCP/IP connection.

Best practice Description

Prevent a user from sending, forwarding,

or replying to specific types of messages

from the BlackBerry device.

Consider the following guidelines:

• Prevent a user from forwarding or replying to a message using a BlackBerry®

Enterprise Server that did not deliver the original message.

• Prevent a user from using an email account to forward or reply to a PIN

message or reply to an email message with a PIN message.

To apply this best practice, you can use the Disable Forwarding Between Services

IT policy rule.

Prevent external connections to a

BlackBerry device.

Consider preventing applications on a BlackBerry device from opening external

connections (for example, to WAP, SMS, MMS, or other public gateways).

To apply this best practice, you can use the Allow External Connections IT policy rule.

Prevent plain-text PIN messages. Consider preventing a user from sending plain-text PIN messages if your

organization uses a highly secure messaging solution such as the S/MIME Support

Package for BlackBerry® smartphones or the PGP® Support Package for

BlackBerry® smartphones.

To apply this best practice, you can use the Disable Peer-to-Peer Normal Send IT

policy rule.

Prevent a BlackBerry device from using

the global PIN encryption key.

Consider limiting the number of BlackBerry devices in your organization’s

environment that can receive SMS text messages, MMS messages, BlackBerry®

Internet Service messages, PIN messages that use scrambling that is specific to

your organization, and PIN messages that use the global PIN encryption key.

To apply this best practice, you can use the Firewall Block Incoming Messages IT

policy rule.

Security Technical Overview

Best practice: Protecting unsecured wireless messaging on the BlackBerry device