BlackBerry Encryption Keys
Posted 08-04-2009 at 05:00 AM by hdawg
Tags 3des, aes, bb encryption, bes encryption, encryption key
Here are three KB articles that give you just that little bit of valuable insight into encryption key data within the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution ...
KB04725 - Identifying BlackBerry smartphone encryption method
KB05429 - Recommendation on the use of Triple DES or AES for BlackBerry transport
KB12821 - Change the encryption method on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server
If you want to see the actual keys, take a look at the UserConfig table in your BlackBerry Configuration Database. I don't recommend you go in there any start poking around unless you know what you're doing, as you could seriously mess up your environment.
But for those that just want to know, go take a peek!
KB04725 - Identifying BlackBerry smartphone encryption method
KB05429 - Recommendation on the use of Triple DES or AES for BlackBerry transport
KB12821 - Change the encryption method on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server
If you want to see the actual keys, take a look at the UserConfig table in your BlackBerry Configuration Database. I don't recommend you go in there any start poking around unless you know what you're doing, as you could seriously mess up your environment.
But for those that just want to know, go take a peek!
Total Comments 3
Comments
-
When I came onboard a few months ago one of the first things I did was discover that our Hong Kong BES was running 3DES only. At the last minute the change control to upgrade to 3DES + AES was rejected on the basis of some ambiguous legal language about China not allowing > 128 bit encryption, which I could not verify or pin down since it seemed to come from a 13 year old legal document with little relevance to today's world. Even the local Hong Kong BES admin was perplexed.
The key takeway is that changing from 3DES to 3DES + AES will not impact your environment at all, the devices will upgrade in the background over a 30 day period to AES as their 3DES keys expire. No reactivations or other intervention needed.Posted 08-04-2009 at 10:41 AM by mahoward
-
Thanks for the input on your experience!Posted 08-04-2009 at 09:28 PM by hdawg
-
It is probably interesting, that the first byte of the key seems to contain the encryption method:- 0x01 for 3DES
- 0x02 for AES
In SQL this query should find all the guys still using 3DES:
SELECT Id, DisplayName
FROM UserConfig
WHERE SUBSTRING(CurrentKey,1,1)=0x01
However, I found quite a few active users having empty keys (0x or 0x0000...). I have no clue, what that means. BBUA reports Encryption Type = "N/A" in that case.
Let's see what T-Support answers
Greetings,
Neo3000Posted 12-21-2009 at 06:05 AM by Neo3000
