RIM rolled out Wireless OS Updates over a year ago and they have not really taken off do to RIM and carriers fumbling the ball on them. The latest leaked BES 5.0.3 document shows a new IT policy called:
- Allow Wireless Security Updates – Requires minimum BlackBerry OS 6.0
This is a totally new beast. I can infer from it that RIM is planning on starting to roll out security updates independently of OS updates. For example, when the browser certificate vulnerability came out in September of 2009 it took RIM months to roll out OS updates on all the carriers to address it. Maybe RIM is looking towards wireless security updates to fix that gap in the update loop. They could even use it for updates like the Daylight Savings Time patches they have to roll out.
My personal opinion is that RIM needs this capability for when they release Adobe Flash for BlackBerry. Flash has one of the worst track records when it comes to having more holes than a sieve. Maybe the security team realized they need a way to patch these vulnerabilities quickly without a full OS update.
What do you think?
