Specifications
Item Description
S/MIME public key
When a user sends an email message from a device, the
device uses the S/MIME public key of the recipient to
encrypt the message.
When a user receives a signed email message on a device,
the device uses the S/MIME public key of the sender to
verify the message signature.
S/MIME private key
When a user sends a signed email message from a device,
the device hashes the message using SHA-1, SHA-2, or
MD5. The device then uses the S/MIME private key of the
user to digitally sign the message hash.
When a user receives an encrypted email message on a
device, the device uses the private key of the user to
decrypt the message. The private key can be stored on the
device or a smart card.
S/MIME encryption algorithms that BlackBerry 10
devices use
When you or a user turns on S/MIME encryption on BlackBerry 10 devices, the value of the "Allowed content ciphers"
profile setting specifies that a device can use any of the following encryption algorithms to encrypt messages: AES-256,
AES-192, AES-128, RC2, or Triple DES. You can change the value of the "Allowed content ciphers" setting to use a subset
of the encryption algorithms if your organization's security policies require it.
If a user wants to send an email message to a recipient that the user previously received an email message from, the device
is designed to store the encryption algorithms that the recipient's email application can support, and use one of those
encryption algorithms. By default, if the device cannot determine the encryption algorithms that the recipient's email
application can support, the device encrypts the email message using Triple DES.
Data flow: Sending an email message from a
BlackBerry 10 device using S/MIME encryption
1. A user sends an email message from a BlackBerry 10 device. The device performs the following actions:
a Checks the BlackBerry device keystore for the S/MIME certificate of the recipient
b Encrypts the email message with the S/MIME certificate of the recipient
c If the device is connected to the BlackBerry Infrastructure, uses BlackBerry transport layer encryption to encrypt
the S/MIME-encrypted message
Security Technical Overview Extending messaging security on BlackBerry 10 devices
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