Blackberry service providers in India asked to ensure security measures

Mumbai: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has advised providers of Blackberry services in the country to ensure that necessary security measures are in place within 15 days, failing which it would stop the service to Blackberry device users in the country.

The directive has been issued to service providers, who have been asked to work in tandem with Blackberry's Canadian parent Research in Motion (RIM), to ensure a full-proof security system for the service in India. Stoppage of service, if the security safeguards are not implemented in the said time frame, would result in an estimated four lakh plus users of the Blackberry services being 'disconnected' from their anywhere access to e-mail.

Telecom minister A Raja had also said that security of nation was of paramount concern and this would not be sacrificed at any cost. C-DoT, a technical wing of DoT, has the monitoring capabilities provided the licensor puts the server in India enabling interception of contents of e-mails, if required, on the Blackberry handsets.