[BrianBerry8]

Hi,

Anyone with definitive answers on whether or not my company IT dept. can monitor my private email that is forwarded through my BlackBerry web account? I'm on a BES at work and I just set up my Gmail to be forwarded to my Cingular BlackBerry email address which drops it into my handheld mail.

Also, what if I reply to that mail? Is that easier/different for them to monitor?


thanks very much!

[jibi]

they cannot. they can't even monitor your work email sent through the BES with the BES (but probably can if they retain emails on the mail servers). at a default logging level for BES emails, message logging does not contain anything but your own email address and the RefID of the message (which can also be found on your handheld with ALT+VIEW).

[PhilMax]

I may be wrong, but I beleive that mail forwarded to you through the BWC does not go through the BES. However, I believe if you are using the "desktop" messaging services, any replies to those emails would go through the BES. Don't know if the contents can be seen or monitored with the BES, though.

We are examining our IT policies for BBs at the company I work for as we are in a 30 day pilot program right now. We have a concern about emails being "forwarded" to the handheld via the BWC. If an account is set up to forward, then I would guess that is before any screening or filtering is done. At least if POP access is set up through BWC, I believe it checks the inbox which would be after the provider has at least done some screening or filters have been applied. However, any email received from the BWC bypasses any corporate and server level spam and anti-virus screening done by the company itself. This is why we are considering disabling the web client for our users. If someone has a different perspective on BB security with regard to spam and viruses, we'd love to hear about it.

[jibi]

no BWC emails go through the BES. the only relations is the handheld in question, as well as the ability to disable access to a BWC account (and other non-BES email) through IT Policy. if a BWC account is setup on the handheld, a person can change how a reply is sent (either through BES or through BWC).

in a corporate environment, especially if your company is publically traded and/or has investment interests, i would HIGHLY suggest you lock the handheld down and cite security concerns for your reasoning. this is not only in your own best interest as an administrator, but its also in the best interest of your investors to have a strict security policy in place. any chances you take on leaked information is a chance to get smacked on the back of the head.

[n8ureb]

But... as the IT admin , I can push a IT policy that will not allow you to recieve email from anything else other than my BES server.

[jdh]

Messages that you receive through the BWC come directly from the BWC and do not touch the BES at all. Replies and forwards are sent out the same way the message came in by default. You can actually check which service is being used when sending a message by scrolling up into the header, which will indicate whether you are using your Web Client or BES service.

Note that if you backup your RIM to your company desktop (ie, via USB connection), then these messages may be readable, as the backup file is not encrypted and would therefore be readable by anybody with access to your PC or network share (wherever you store it).

The OTA backups done with BES might have some of the same issues, but I'm not sure what format that data is actually stored in.

[PhilMax]

Originally Posted by jdh

Replies and forwards are sent out the same way the message came in by default.

I am on a BES and I confirmed that by sending myself an email to the BWC address then replying.

In a BES environment, I believe there is a policy rule that can be set that would prevent users from using other email services for sending emails (which I am assuming includes BWC?) but which will not restrict the receipt of any emails from other email services.

[alw1126]