BlackBerry update in UAE reportedly surveillance software in disguise
By Donald Melanson 
posted July 14th 2009 4:59PM
posted July 14th 2009 4:59PM
There's not much in the way of official statements on this one just yet, but itp.net is reporting that a recently pushed out update for all BlackBerry users on the UAE-based carrier Etisalat is not a "performance enhancement patch" as advertised, but rather some spyware that could potentially give Etisalat the ability to keep an eye on its customers' messages. The first suspicions about the update apparently arose when users noticed dramatically reduced battery life and slower than usual performance from their phones, which led to a bit of detective work from programmer Nigel Gourlay, who pegged the software down as coming from electronic surveillance company SS8. While it's not switched on by default, the software can reportedly let Etisalat flip the switch on phones one by one and monitor their emails and text messages -- or it could if it hadn't completely bogged down the network. Apparently, the software wasn't designed for such a large scale deployment, which resulted in the slowdown and battery drain as some 100,000 BlackBerrys constantly tried and failed to sign in to the one registration server for the software.
[Via The Register]
[Via The Register]
This is probably the remnants of Bush's wiretapping.
Or Obama and his ACTA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement
Sorry aquiluz, ACTA was a Bush project inherited by Obama and is not necessarily a bad policy. Obama invoking "National Security" in response to FOIL requests in not cool though
How does Bush's US wiretapping policies affect a company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)?
SS8 is a US based company... http://www.ss8.com/
@esqyre
"is not necessarily a bad policy"
Yes it is, more laws created at the behest of entertainment companies are not good. However, since you think it is good, please tell me how.
@Ben:
Etisalat apparently contracted SS8 to provide them with a technological solution to wiretapping their customers; SS8 provides similar solutions to other customers, and has been doing so since at least 1994. Again, the question remains: how has Bush's authorization for domestic surveillance affected a company that operates almost exclusively in the Middle East, and how has it affected that company's decision to contract a US-based company that produces spying solutions? None of these occurrences require that the president of the US adopt a domestic spying program.
@esqyre
Obama is invoking "National Security" on the old Algebraic: 'First Outside, Inside Last' ?
Thank you so much Engadget.
I live in the UAE, and day after day hundreds of people are buying Blackberrys, and seeing such action from Etisalat is absolutely sickening.
Spread the word people.
I came here to see what you have to say... so it's true.. hmm.
Also remember people, this surveillance company "SS8" is a US based company that officially serves many other worldwide operates, so keep an open eye at you software and updates.
Fight this crap.
Oh yeah, it is true.
What can we do to fight it before it grows and invades Canada and US?
I got PeerGuardian 2, software updates disabled on my system.
Should've bought an iPhone.
What makes you think Apple will not put out a "software update" to enable tapping? Mind you, Apple likes to overcharge (even the firmware updates) and screw over their customers.
iKurt 7, I'm actually going to buy an iPhone 3Gs, but, the fact here is that BlackBerrys are way more popular in the UAE and Etisalat is monitoring emails and sms, making it an even bigger problem than just choosing a mobile phone, and all of this brings a huge issue: Who else is doing what Etisalat is doing? And if nobody had the overheat or battery drain issue, would Etisalat even talk about this to the public?
Let us not turn this into an "iPhone vs All" debate, for the love of god.
Saad, there is no secure phone. As long as the traffic goes through the network, it could be tapped anywhere.
To Aguiluz:
Who says it hasn't already ?
Too bad with the iPhone and AT&T you're essentially signing up for monitoring. AT&T = NSA.
fail, the NSA doesn't have dead zones.
Ken, the iMoron as it were, doesn't realize that SS8 is a third party that modified RIM's Blackberry software. It could obviously do the same for an iPhone since the iPhone is capable of OTA updates.
Crap, I meant Kurt. I guess I get a moron stamp too today.
Thank God i live in the states =)
-1
If people ignore it because they are outside the UAE, then it won't be stopped until it potentially grows and arrive stateside and up north to Canada. People should stop it at an early stage.
(The question is, what can we do? :/)
Dude... we are already being tracked every inch. This are primitive methods.
pal :)
**these
Naivete at its finest. It's people like you who are responsible for the continuing decay of our country today.
When they came for my neighbor I was silent.
When they came for me there was no one left to stand with.
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then... they came for me... And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
Introducing:
BlackBerry Enterprise Surveillance Services.*
- Spy on citizens, employees, or clients.
- Conduct sabotage on important documents.
- Assassinate dissidents by remotely detonating batteries.
Only from Sprint, the Now Network.
*BlackBerry Enterprise Surveillance Services are not part of the standard Blackberry Enterprise Services, and require an additional monthly fee. Taxes may apply. To see if BESS is available in your area, please use the coverage map. 4G battery killing speeds available in Tehran, Pyongyang, and other locations.
Yahoo where do I sign up for the anti sign up. Keep up the great work.
No need to Blackberrys sir, they are already spying on us on our Nokia phones with their "one of the world's most sophisticated" spying systems!
It's a beautiful life! :)
It will be interesting to read RIM's response to this revelation - bet THAT one's gonna be a fun read!
RIM responded and essentially threw the whole thing into the carrier's lap:
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/07/20/daily71.html?ana=yfcpc
Glad to see Etisalat is still up to its shenanigans. They were absolute crap while I was in Sharjah. Absurdly high prices for mediocre-at-best services. I hope Du crushes them, except they were becoming just as draconian in their censorship crap in order to 'promote the values of the country'.
Du is just a subsidiary of Etisalat, and if anything, the coverage and customer service is far worse. I think they're taking the "you think THIS is bad?" approach.
the iphone service in uae is even worse the battery life gets drained for no reason and u cant disable the internet. the internet configuration is hidden when ur using an etisalat SIM card , someone should sue those F##KERS
You can sue in the UAE? wow MY perceptions are f*cked up
I can smell a big lawsuit coming....
Can't sue here.
Performance enhancement patch? They should have put it in a nasal spray.
"If people ignore it because they are outside the UAE, then it won't be stopped until it potentially grows and arrive stateside and up north to Canada. People should stop it at an early stage."
@Aguiluz: dumb point dude. don't you think there's maybe a REASON they're doing it in the UAE? It's not like they chose it randomly, just like the hijackers didn't choose the twin towers randomly. idiot.
go back and read about how many of the hijackers were born in the UAE, then come back and see us. kthx. off ya go.
So nood, by your logic just because some hijackers comes from the UAE, this justify what Etisalat is doing? Compare to Canada you know how many drug dealers live in New York, well we, up north, should tag all United Statians cell coming here. And New Yorks pop. is far larger than Canadas.
engadget ringing da alarm w/ surveillance and how we should all be concerned, then deleting any post that explains why its the UAE that's being targeted. you guys can read between the lines.
great job as usual engadget.
RE: ssp
"the iphone service in uae is even worse the battery life gets drained for no reason"
Hmm . . . How is that different than the iPhones with 3,0 anywhere? The drain on mine is now RIDICULOUS!
NSA, did you hear me? RIDICULOUS!
if you have an iphone with 3.0 firmware and your using etisalat your credit gets rdeducted for no reason when i called them they said i was using gprs and u cant disable the gprs when your using 3.0 and etsalat it just dosent show u the configuration
Warning: I just came back from India and this software was installed on my device in a similar manner- I used a Reliance SIM to save money on data- I downloaded the "performance upgrade" and it appears they installed software about 3 months ago. Read between the lines on all of this. Etisalat screwed up the deployment of this software for devices that have already been sold and are in use. They could have easily installed the software on devices not yet sold- or maybe RIM now adds the software for them right at the factory. This means that Du in the UAE and probably many other carriers did it correctly and it wouldn't surprise me if many new BlackBerry models already have the software pre-installed. Search the internet, there are threads that discuss how to remove this software from any BlackBerry- apparently SS8 has sold the software to carriers around the world and the spyware is in common use.
I think someone should post a list of all the "trigger" words the spybots look for, then each of us should send the list to all our contacts. Then, we should ALL text and email the entire list daily to lots of recipients, as well as randomly use the words in voice transmissions. If enough people did it I bet it would totally overload the system.
What a load of crap... Having my parents in the UAE and having visited there, I can attest to the government being one that tries to put up a front of being open and progressive, while really in terms of content filtering and the freedom to use services (like skype), they have unreasonable limits... And the government tries to protect its own services and keep a lid on services offered there... its not really a free market: the government has a large stake in both communication companies that exist there (etisalat and du).
I hope I made sense. I need to go to bed, but I wanted to put this out there before this got forgotten.