Slashdot Mirror
BBC Shuts Down Internal BlackBerry Service
sebFlyte writes "Silicon.com is running a story on a little problem the BBC is having with their email. Apparently, the BBC has suspended service to all its executives BlackBerrys, because the server software was randomly sending chunks of messages to arbitrary users, thus showing execs each others emails. Not what you want from your remote-working solution, really."
SLASHDOT, FRONT PAGE! RUN IT!
What? The bug was fixed in a later version?
It's a slow news day. RUN IT!
kjskdvnjkas hfjkh fjj sfkdsak fkldsfj ajsf ksjaflkjfskd jask
skjf salkdfj skldfjkljsdnfjsndf
------------------------
Sent from my handheld Blackberry.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
You mean it's not a good thing for the execs to communicate with one another?
Oh wait, you mean when the execs say something like, "Yeah, that Bob from Accouting. What a tightwad. I'm pretty sure if he bent over the board in his ass would snap."
Never mind. Now I understand.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
hmm. Didn't they (BBC) just layoff or outsource a huge part of their IT staff? Perhaps the lack of personel to properly set up the application (Blackberry Server) might be part of it? Can you really 'get by' without experienced help? Is this a result of the BBC slashing their IT staff to the bone? I would dare say that it would be hard to argue that it did not have some effect.
saying that he was going to lift up my tight leather miniskirt and spank my because I was a bad girl. (hint: I am male)
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Dissatisfied with your current size? Use a natural enhancer "Looks like our CEO has some confidence problems..."
Did it mix chunks of messages? That could really cause some fun... "Hey Bob, I really need that report on $*%)^ your hot body... I can't wait to rub my hands all over your @!@#%! convention. You should be ready to go on a moment's notice. -- Phil."
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
It's a good reminder, and thus newsworthy. Never write something into an email that you wouldn't say to the face of whoever you're talking about.
Talking about confidential matters is what encryption and the telephone or face to face conversation is for. And if you have a "party-line" the telephone won't work either.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
In that case, either ask for a raise, or a head start.
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
...a mail with content like "My wife's on vacations, so what do you think sweetie? Tonight at 9PM? Luvz." arriving to another exec.
:)
Hilarity ensues
Did they not get the memo?
. shtml to access the service pack and a list of fixed issues, software updates, and additional information.
Service Pack 3 for BlackBerry Enterprise Server v4.0 for Microsoft Exchange is now available for download.
Please visit http://www.blackberry.com/support/downloads/index
Thank you,
BlackBerry Software Releases
Research In Motion Limited
Telephone: 1-877-255-2377 | (+1) 519-888-6181
Email: help@blackberry.net
Web: http://www.blackberry.com/
Get up!
Not surprising really, if you think about it your data is usually only a few bits away from going somewhere you dont want, its just a question of how many bits and how likely they are to be corrupted.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
The BBC tech department amuses me. Not patching on schedule, etc.
Follow the link in TFA that goes to the BBC's limiting employees to the use of PocketPC2002. Pretty funny stuff there:
"An internal email from the company's technology division stated all PDA platforms other than PocketPC are insecure - which will prevent anybody operating a Palm or Psion handheld device from using their PDA at work."
Which impies that the Beeb's tech division believes PocketPC to be secure. If we've learned anything over the decades, no system is secure.
The email said reasons of security and unusually, the "exposure to users of health and safety risks" left the company with no other choice but the PocketPC platform.
Health and safety risks for not using PocketPC? What, like Palm caused PDAs to emit toxins or explode in 2002?
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Dear Joe,
It has come to my attention th
hould have seen the size of her knoc
uments have been shredded ahead of the auditor's vis
s the biggest assh
unch on Friday?
Sincerely,
Dave
It's sad to see marketing -speak cross over from the boardroom to Slashdot articles and posts. Seriously, there's more marketing jargon in some threads than a stack of press releases from a soon-to-be-bankrupt 1999 dot-com.
If you'll excuse me, I have to use the solid biological waste transport solution for something that's robust, scalable and end-to-end.
(hint: I am male)
You're posting on slashdot. Male is the default setting.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Coincidence. The real reason for the trading halt is that the Supreme Court has denied RIM's emergency appeal of the NTP patent verdict.
I don't know about today, but I can relate my experience.
I once was part of an e-mail group and was assigned the task of writing a pseudo-mime interface into our smtp allowing transfer of binary information. (This was pre-mime.)
I would amass large test streams of e-mails and data for testing. And while I did strive for discretion, invariably I got a peek here and there of the e-mail messages. I had to assert complete conversion in and out of binary form with no changes to the originals. I did do this mostly with diff scripting, but for sanity checks would read text to ensure that the starting point of my work looked reasonable and uncorrupted.
I wasn't surprised to see very personal messages exchanged, but what surprised me most was the blatant conducting of what were clearly illicit affairs via e-mail! And, how many times I saw those kinds of messages!
I never associated message text with address info, so it was anonymous voyeurism, but I must say I was shocked.
Word to the wise, never conduct any transactions or conversations via e-mail you wouldn't mind showing up in some blog, or bulletin, etc. I suspect the level of monitoring of e-mail is even more prevalent today than the day I was doing that work.
From TFA:
The company said in a statement: "RIM has developed and tested a fix for an obscure bug identified in a specific service pack release for BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The bug was isolated to version 4.02 and does not exist in version 4.03 or other earlier versions. RIM is aware of a single reported incident of the bug and responded promptly with a fix."
Probably it's not even a technical problem, just some BOFH having some fun on the mail server!
If you're employed by Research In Motion, does that mean you've got a RIM-job?
-- Game Developers: Stop porting badly-textured games from crappy console systems!
The BBC IT seem to have a very peculiar notion of security, anyway. Witness the quote from TFA: The issue of risk has figured large in [the BBC's] PDA strategy. In 2002, the BBC banned any of its staff from using devices not based on a Microsoft operating system.. So they enforce use of MS to reduce risk? Errr...
This quote points to another Silicon.com article from 2002 saying, "We believe PocketPC includes all functionality and is one the most secure platforms available."
Which, to say the least, is a strong statement in light of the multiple vulnerabilities affecting MS products. The functionality issue is certainly defensible, but as for security, I have a doubt.
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
It's hard to see RIM shuttering completely -- that's a pyrrhic victory for NTP who wants money, not the business shut down.
I can see RIM filing for some kind of bankruptcy protection and the judge recognizing the installed base as a special class and ongoing operations being important, and fixing the situation financially such that NTP gets some of the money they're looking for and RIM continuing as an ongoing entity.
Worse for NTP could be a judge saying "OK, you win the company instead" and they're forced to sell it off to reclaim their holdings. Any potential buyer would know that NTP doesn't want to own or run RIM and that they should not only expect fire sale prices but also deep discounts on IP licensing in return for taking this off their hands.
*Somebody* would want to own RIM, it fits to nicely into someone's communications/wireless/email portfolio, it's just getting NTP satisfied that's the tricky part.
Only in the worst case scenerio for everyone (but Good and MS) does RIM flame out and become a non-entity.
While "frantically" installing SP3 after reading this article (it's only been out for 7 days or so) I noticed a "silent BCC" option in the BES config. You enter an email address and it automatically bcc's you on every message sent to/from all the Blackberrys. This is rather disturbing, and I can't really see any reason for it. Sure I can always just give myself access to their Exchange Mailbox, but still... disturbing.
Honestly I can't wait until this NTP patent infringment thing brings down RIM, releasing the market from the blackberry stranglehold. While the blackberry itself is a decent piece of technology (the J2ME platform is a good thing), RIM's server software is an altogether different beast. Perhaps due to legacy issues, but probably mostly for profit reasons, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server software that you MUST have to do anything with the blackberry on the back-end is a giant, proprietary mess. It is deeply dependent on Windows (integrated into the WMI), it does bizzare things to communicate with the blackberry devices (most models don't have their own TCP/IP stack, so all communication must go through the BES's proprietary protocols), the user and device management stuff is really a joke.... I jsut can't say enough bad things about this server software. It just sucks.
The I.T. world would be a better place if RIM were to collapse, taking their ugly BES with them. What we need is a BlackBerry-like device, with its own TCP stack, a very simple gateway server, using only open protocols (web services would be a really realy good thing, for example). This will not happen as long as RIM is runnign things. The BES is a cash cow for them... a single BES user licenses costs almost as much as the blackberry device itself (with the profit margin on a license being 99%).
Imagine a beowulf of
In soviet russia
4. Profit!
welcome our new blackberry overlords
------------
This message sent from my wireless blackberry
The major advantage of Blackberry and other "push" mail solutions is the email will appear on the Blackberry as soon as it is pushed to the unit, as opposed to the unit checking the mailbox every X minutes.
The Blackberry server software is designed to work with Exchange. There are simpler solutions if you only have POP3 mail.
When Exchange recieves a mail, it passes it to the Blackberry Server software. This software connects via the Internet to RIM's central office, or the telecommunications providers office.
Then, depending on what services are available to you, the message is "pushed" to the Blackberry over the mobile phone network. I believe it can go by SMS or MMS, and is just a structured message that either contains the email itself, or a link for the Blackberry to download the message over GPRS.
The biggest dissapointment for me (and the reason RIM is making money) is that you can't seem to connect your own GSM modem to the Blackberry Server software, allowing those messages to be pushed directly from your server. They have to be sent to a third party.
I, for one, would love to know the SMS or MMS message format that triggers the push capability of mobile phones and PDA's, and I would love to have a go at writing a module myself.