Re: [outages] News item: Blackberry services down worldwide

["Patrick W. Gilmore" <patrick () ianai net>]

On Oct 13, 2011, at 3:21 PM, McCall, Gabriel wrote:

> ActiveSync on Android allows corporate to force compliance with security policy and allow remote wipe. User cannot 
> complete the exchange account setup without permitting the controls. If the user doesn't agree their sync isn't 
> enabled. Moreover, if corporate requirements change sync is disabled until you approve again. That seems like it 
> covers all the bases to me.

Same on iThings, plus SSL, wipe if 10 incorrect pass codes entered, enforcement of more than a 4-digit PIN pass code, 
auto-lock timeout, etc., etc.  Any device that doesn't do this is likely old and / or going out of biz.

I like Jared's attempt to bring this back on topic, though. :)  So going down that path, exactly why is iMessage any 
different from Skype, AIM, Jabber, etc.?  I mean other than likely being part of the OS / seamlessly integrated.  (I 
haven't tried it yet, so I am just assuming Apple has done their standard UI magic on this.)

In fact, Skype, just as a for instance, is worse on hotel wifi as launching the app on a laptop makes you a middle node 
for some conversations.  Does Skype on $HANDHELD have the same property?

-- 
TTFN,
patrick


> -----Original message-----
> From: Andrea Gozzi <mls () vp44 net>
> To: Jamie Bowden <jamie () photon com>, Christopher Morrow <morrowc.lists () gmail com>, Jay Ashworth <jra () baylink 
> com>
> Cc: NANOG <nanog () nanog org>
> Sent: Thu, Oct 13, 2011 17:02:53 GMT+00:00
> Subject: Re: NANOG:RE: [outages] News item: Blackberry services down worldwide
>
> Can't but agree with Jamie.
> The ability to centralize management for all Blackberry users and _force_
> them to comply with company policy (it's an investment bank) saved us lot
> of hassle when, and it happens regularly, people lose their handsets.
> Otherwise, it would be all unencrypted, unmonitored and unprotected access
> points to customer's private data.
> Some of our representatives recently switched to iphones, but nobody from
> management will ever be allowed anything than a Blackberry.
>
> Andrea
>
>
> On 10/13/11 5:55 PM, "Jamie Bowden" wrote:
>
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Christopher Morrow [mailto:morrowc.lists () gmail com]
> > > Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:36 AM
> > > To: Jay Ashworth
> > > Cc: NANOG
> > > Subject: Re: [outages] News item: Blackberry services down worldwide
> > >
> > > On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 11:13 AM, Jay Ashworth
> > wrote:
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > From: "Jamie Bowden"
> > > >
> > > > > Someday either Google or Apple will get
> > > > > off their rear ends and roll out an end to end encrypted service
> > > that
> > > > > plugs into corporate email/calendar/workgroup services and we can
> > > all
> > > > > gladly toss these horrid little devices in the recycle bins where
> > > they
> > > > > belong.
> > > >
> > > > I'm fairly sure K-9 does GPG, at least for the email
> > >
> > > plus normal mail + k9 will do TLS on SMTP and IMAP... or they both do
> > > with my mail server just fine. (idevices seeem to also do this well
> > > enough)
> > >
> > > It's possible that the 'encryption' comment from Jamie is really about
> > > encrypting the actual device... which I believe Android[0] will do, I
> > > don't know if idevices do though.
> >
> > As of 2.3[.x?] (can't remember if it's a sub release that intro'd this),
> > Android devices can be wholly encrypted, though I don't know if they are
> > by default. All these kludges are great on a small scale, but the BES
> > does end to end encryption for transmission, plugs into Exchange, Lotus,
> > Sametime, proxies internal http[s], and lets us manage policies and push
> > out software updates from a central management point. When it works,
> > it's also scalable, which matters when you have thousands of devices to
> > manage.
> >
> > Jamie