The Hardware Root of Trust is foundation of BlackBerry Security
BlackBerry maintains its relevance in the technology industry because it is considered as the most secure and trusted mobile platform by government and enterprises
Heads of States use BlackBerry devices
In fact, President Barack Obama is using a highly-secured BlackBerry phone. British Prime Minister David Cameron is also a long-time BlackBerry user. Cameron previously stated that he has no troubles running government affairs using his BlackBerry smartphone. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are also using BlackBerry devices.
BlackBerry is undoubtedly the most secure platform available in the market. Jefferies analyst Peter Misek previously revealed that the U.S. National Security Administration (NSA) failed to hack the custom cryptography of BlackBerry. According to him, the company’s security is so good, NSA-proof and it would probably take four million years on brute computer force to hack it.
Many are wondering how BlackBerry integrates such high-quality of security to its hardware. Alex Manea, manager of security services at BlackBerry wrote a blog explaining how the company integrates security to its hardware.
Hardware Root of Trust: the foundation of BlackBerry Security
Manea explained that the foundation of BlackBerry security is the “Hardware Root of Trust.” According to him, every time a BlackBerry device boots up, it runs through a complex and unique series of checks to ensure the integrity of each component.
Here’s is how it works:
- The CPU Embedded Boot ROM verifies the digital signature of the Boot ROM.
- The Boot ROM verifies the signing key of the Operating System.
- The Operating System verifies the hash of the Base File System.
- The Base File System verifies the hashes of all loaded Applications
Manea emphasized, “The deeper down the Root of Trust is embedded into the system; the more difficult it is to compromise.” He added that BlackBerry signs all of its hardware to ensure the integrity of the device.
The Canadian technology company embeds keys during the manufacturing of devices. The keys are verified whenever the devices connect to BlackBerry network. The keys are also used to verify the software of the devices.
BlackBerry will continue to lead the mobile security and privacy market
According to Manea, BlackBerry will continue to lead the mobile privacy and security market by providing a trusted hardware platform and secure endpoints.
The company strongly believes that privacy and security will become more critical for consumers, enterprises and governments as technology transitions towards embedded devices and the internet of things. Pres. Obama recently proposed a new legislation to protect the privacy of users.
