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A Blackberry Pickpocket Notification System
Crackberry Guy writes "Research In Motion, the maker of the Blackberry, is looking into offering a wireless device that aims to thwart thieves and ease the minds of those who are prone to misplacing their handheld units. According to the recent patent application, the new device would be carried in a holster armed with a wireless transceiver. The handheld unit could be switched to a pickpocket mode so that once it's removed from the holster, a wireless alert message would be sent to the user. Unless a user authentication code is input in a predetermined length of time, the device's data would be rendered unusable."
Is this supposed to work in real time? I mean, setup the scenario in which this thing will prevent theft. Ok, a thief steals a BlackBerry and the victim receives a wireless message on their
What it does do is "render your data unusable" if you don't enter your code fast enough. Now, unless it also disables the device, I don't see that deterring pickpockets much at all. Since their primary take is probably the device itself for resale on the streets of your nearest metropolis. The data onboard is just a bonus if you were stupid enough to store financial information on a mobile device.
But let's assume this "wireless alert message" would be in the form of sound waves (hey, sound waves are wireless) and were just a bunch of sirens and a guy shouting "I'm being stolen!" Well, I could imagine this to be either A) more trouble than it's worth, B) ineffective because a minute after it's removed from the holster it's probably already half way across town or C) a reason for a smack addict to shoot you when he holds you at gun point and demands everything in your pockets.
I don't know about Faucette but where I work, BlackBerrys aren't allowed -- and your an idiot if you put any important data on a mobile device!
So really, the only news here is that you can now be notified via e-mail or text message that your BlackBerry has officially been found to be not in its holster. I guess the people who get on the bus with their BlackBerry in their bag and then get off the bus without the BlackBerry in their bag will no longer have to put two and two together to discover that they've been robbed. They will be notified by e-mail which they can read at their leisure -- with things as stream lined as that, it must be THE FUTURE!
My work here is dung.
Great idea, but aren't they just giving us another device to lose? At least I can call my Blackberry when I lose it.
Hopefully they've thought of this, but the article seems to be lacking details on this new device.
ebob9
What exactly is the YRO topic for? I've seen stories that I thought didn't fit posted under it, but I could always see a (to me) tenuous link.
This one has me completely stumped, however.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Actually, it'd sort of be like Rogue Tropper's helmet, gun and back-pack.
Xix.
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
Yes, you would have to carry around an extra device, but those that are security and privacy conscious this is a great thing.
:)
Yes, there will be the occasional accident where your data is wiped because you made a mistake and then couldn't find the damn thing, but one sync later and it's all better
There is already a device just as useful as this. Available in most stores as well! What is this amazing device..? A piece of string Tie end A around wrist and tie end B around black berry. Upon your precious black berry being picked pocketed it immediately starts feedback and upon getting to far from your person alerts you by a careful tug on the arm. It even stops you leaving your black berry on a desk by mistake, as soon as you start walking off your black berry will follow. All for less then the price of pen.
And just how many executives do YOU know who are capable of remembering their passwords?
I've built up so much character I have an alter-ego
... before it was patented by someone else!
Oliver.
Suppose you don't use the holster... say keep the thing in a purse or something? Not going to help you when the holster is taken too... or the purse with your holster holding the Blackberry... Sounds like marketing trying to sell something useless to pretend to be addressing the recent mobile device theft news articles.
Assuming you always keep your Blackberry "on your person", why not rig it to have an alarm sound go off if the Blackberry gets more than 5-10 feet away from the holster? This would also help remind you to pick it up if you set it down somewhere and walk away.
i see the blackberry as a nuisance more than a tool. People who own one, at least the ones around me, seem compelled to glance at their BB every 35 seconds or so, even when in an important conversation. Let the BBs be stolen so these people can break the crackberry addiction and come back to the real physical world.
ant
So I accidentaly leave my blackberry at home/in car and my data is made un-usable, great!
better would be if it sent the GPS co-ordinate to your home pc so if it's lost or stollen you know where it is?
In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
Yeah so I sat my Blackberry down this morning in the kitchen and went to make some toast. I forgot to enter the activation code and all of my data was erased. Now the device won't turn on and I missed an important phone call.. shit.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
I like the theft deterrent from the sprint commercials better
There's this nifty thing on the blackberry. It's called a PASSWORD. When I pull mine out, it asks for a password. The holster already has a sensor - it's what allows two different modes of rings, one behavior in-holster, one out-of-holster. (default behavior - buzz if in the holster, ring if out)
:(
And, like someone else mentioned, you CAN disable them remotely. Found _that_ out the hard way.
Anyhow, a total non-starter. All they need is some sort of setting (maybe it already exists) that if you drop your blackberry in the holster, it auto-locks.
Besides - they don't care about the data, 99% of the time. They just want to pawn the device.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
This will never stop a theft. Do they think the average theif reads slashdot or keeps up with the newest anti-theft messures? No. The average theif has one of the following mentalities:
1) I have a gun. I'm going to point it at this dude and take his shit.
2) Good he's not looking. [swipe]
3) This guy looks like he's got money. [bumps into rich guy] Oh, I'm sorry. [Minutes later...] Sweet, I got a black box thingy that looks technologicy. I'm going to sell it for $10 and buy a rock.
I bet its pretty easy to sell a blackberry for $10 even if its been fried.
Freedom is a state of mind. A mind is a state of being. Stay the fuck out of my mind and my being. - Corporate Avenger
My wallet, it's around hear somewhere ..probably hiding out with my keys. It's not like I ever misplace anything! Goodbye data? Still, I suppose if it's just an offline known-transient copy, than it needn't matter so much.
---
the pen is mightier than the sword, the sword is mightier than the court, the court is mightier than the pen.
The posts containing text reading that accidental loss of data is going to be frequent. The article does not give many details about the item, however it does say that there will be a pickpocket mode. Which means that if you are walking around town with it you should have that mode turned on.. while at home, you should have it turned off. If you're on the bus, have it turned on.. While in the car, have it turned off. It's going to be a simple daily routine for most people when they get around to filling it in, and getting used to it is going to be the tough part. But when people get it down they will not have their important data out in the open if it does get removed at a time when it should be turned on. It's a pickpocket mode, which means that it's going to stop it from being lifted out of a jacket or pants pocket while in the subway.
would be to have the PDAs gps (if it had one) check its location and send the coordinates via sms (if it had GSM/3G) to a predefined cellnum.
;-) Hello mr pickpocket, I can see you! (or at least where you're going) /Nethog
Now that would be interesting
When I read this I imagined something along the lines of a wallet card being carried around (or a purse card, or key card) if your black berry isn't within 15 feet of the card it would be in lock down mode. This means no code punching and time limits, just carry your card around and RFID takes care of the rest, leave your wallet at home and you wouldn't be able to get your fix or work. If your black berry gets stolen the thief must be within 15 feet of you in order for it to work. This could be partnered with the token cards wireless users work, each morning a few times a day you have to match codes to keep going. You BB could beep or rattle if you are going out of range, or frankly your wallet could or both. It's better than punching in a code each time you want to answer the phone.
Rather than an alert, keep it silent and fit the Blackberry device with a Sony battery. Trigger a little "accident"
Only, it might be a good idea to remember to turn it off...
Keep an rf tag on your keychain to match a unit in the device. Leave it behind, or have it stolen, and it plays a sound (alarm, phone bell, "Master! Don't leave me!", or something.
Assigning a lock password on a Blackberry takes care of the direct impact of this. The password lock on the Blackberry unit allows 10 possible logins before it performs a wipe of the handheld data. If you have a remotely strong password, you'd be fine. Also, there is an option to "Kill Handheld" directly on the BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) which wipes the user's data from the handheld the next time it contacts the WSP. The only problem with this is that the kill command will only try to execute for a set period of time (I think 3 days), so if someone finds the blackberry after that (assuming it is not powered on) there is a potential for data compromise. However, the password protection should mitigate any further issues.
This makes me think that this feature set is going to be marketed at non-enterprise users. I've always thought that non-blackberry smartphones are more common among that user base, though. The entire point (as I see it) of using blackberries is to interface directly with your exchange server at an enterprise level. For instance, our law firm uses it because the messages leave our office encrypted by the BES. Thus, any priveliged information sitting on a WSP's queue for delivery is not cleartext.
All this does is create the possibility for a DOS attack where none existed before.
Beside which, if you are prepared to destroy your own property rather than let it fall into the hands of a thief, you don't deserve to have it in the first place.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Many of the comments above state that having private data on the blackberry is simply a big mistake. I disagree.
I believe that for some situations, it is required to have private data on the blackberry. For instance, if my job is to go around fixing deployed hardware/software to different job sites (often without the internet or cell connectivity), I need to use the RIM as a data/password repository for applications/devices.
I do not see any other device being as handy and secure as the blackberry for this job:
Paper: Can easily be stolen, does not automatically update
Remote login via other people's machines (e.g. ssh): Not always possible, and other people might have keyboard loggers.
Laptop: Too bulky. Also easy to steal. Cannot update as easily as the RIM can.
So if RIM comes out with a way to notify someoe that they no longer have the RIM on them, and also someway to remotely destroy data, I would be happy.
Yes, I realize someone is probably going to reply with: How come you cannot just put a password on it?
Well, I cannot trust my data with a single password, especially when someone has physical access to the device that has the data on it.
-Really Paranoid guy.
(Really, check my history)
Rather than have the blackberry just erase all data in the event of a theft, I would want one that explodes with enough force to not only kill the thief, but wound anyone nearby (anyone standing near a thief deserves what they get - after all, you're either with us or you're with the thieves!).
Life needs more saving throws.
Slightly off topic, but I've long thought that a good way to protect against credit/debit card fraud/theft is to have a system whereby anytime a purchase is made on your credit card, your bank (that is, the company which issues your credit card, which isn't always ostensibly a "bank") sends a text message to your cell phone as confirmation.
This has two security advantages:
(1) it tells you that the company who just swiped (er...read) your card is actually connected to the network, and it isn't only a dummy machine.
(2) if someone makes an unauthorized purchase on your credit card, you know the instant the first purchase attempt is made, not at the next month's statement.
Of course, there are disadvantages:
- It wouldn't work for places that still use pen-and-paper credit card slips
- This would cost much more for the banking industry to implement than to simply deal with cc/dc fraud after the fact.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
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In other news, sales of that great low-tech security device, string, have soared, making it possible for a blackberry to stay within a predetermined radius of the opposing end of the string.