I would love to just lay the whole Carrier IQ drama to rest but I have been getting questions about it nonstop this week even though it is old news. Still I thought it was interesting to point out a thread (Thanks Fred) on the official BlackBerry support forums by RIM employee Mark Sohm. He has confirmed that a press release is being worked on by RIM. Also of interest is his confirmation that keylogger functionality would not work on BlackBerrys because they can only capture keystrokes when an app is in the foreground (the screen is shown).
Here is exactly what Mark Sohm had to say:
RIM is aware of a recent claim by a security researcher that an application called “CarrierIQ” is installed on mobile devices from multiple vendors without the knowledge or consent of device users. RIM will continue to investigate reports and speculation related to CarrierIQ.
RIM can attest that it does not pre-install the CarrierIQ application on BlackBerry smartphones and has never done so. Furthermore, RIM does not authorize its carrier partners to install the CarrierIQ application on BlackBerry smartphones before sales or distribution and has never done so. RIM also did not develop or commission the development of the CarrierIQ application, nor is RIM involved in any way in the testing, promotion, or distribution of the CarrierIQ application.
If the CarrierIQ application is present on a BlackBerry smartphone, it does not mean that the CarrierIQ application has “hacked” the BlackBerry platform. It means that either the BlackBerry smartphone user or the user’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server admin explicitly installed the application and authorized it to run. The user or the user’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server admin has full control over which third-party software he or she installs on a BlackBerry smartphone. The BlackBerry smartphone is designed to prompt the user for consent to grant permissions to a third-party application.
All users (of any device from any manufacturer) should always avoid installing and granting permissions to applications from untrusted sources. This simple precaution mitigates the risk of malware or unwanted software being installed on a user’s mobile device.
Check out all the details in this forum thread. You can actually see the full dump from the Carrier IQ BlackBerry app here along with being able to download it for yourself here though I would not advise it!
