Datasheet

are trying to protect it. Included among those attacking the system
are those who are trying to steal corporate data for their advan-
tage, as well as individuals trying to steal personal data to carry
out identity theft.
A computer connected to the Internet faces an extra risk of being
hacked or becoming infected by a computer virus intent on simply
annoying the heck out of you or (even worse) wreaking havoc on
your computer. Fortunately, security is one of the strong points of
the BlackBerry. RIM has built into its software features that allow
companies to curtail activities for their BlackBerry users that they
deem risky, such as installing or running a third-party application.
Data transmitted on and from the device are encrypted so that
possible snooping is prevented. RIM also has a Signature process
for application developers, which forces developers to identify
themselves and their programs if they are developing any applica-
tions running on the BlackBerry platform that need to integrate
with either BlackBerry core applications or the OS.
The security measures RIM implemented on the BlackBerry plat-
form have gained the trust of the U.S. government as well as many
of the Forbes Top 500 enterprises in the financial and health
industries.
Remember the I love you and Anna Kournikova viruses? These are
virtual evils transmitted through e-mail, a script, or sets of instruc-
tions in the e-mail body or attachment that can be executed either
by the host e-mail program or, in the case of an attachment, by the
program associated with the attached file. Fortunately, BlackBerry’s
Messages does not support scripting languages. As for attachments,
out of the box BlackBerry supports few file types, mostly images
and text documents. BlackBerry’s viewer for such files doesn’t sup-
port scripting either, so you won’t be facing threats from e-mails
having these attachments.
Part I: Meet and Greet Your BlackBerry Pearl
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