The Blackberry -- an always-on wireless device capable of voice, e-mail, text messaging, Internet and intranet communications -- has already been making headway in the Australian market. However, approval by the DSD means the device can attract government users with high security requirements.
Scott Totzke, director of government technology at Research in Motion, said he was looking forward to rolling out the devices to various government departments.
"The Australian government, including its Department of Defence, has now listed Blackberry as an approved product and DSD has completed its security policy for the device. We look forward to supporting the Government's various departments and agencies," said Totzke.
Blackberry devices support Triple DES (Data Encryption Standard), AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and local data encryption--for content protection. In addition, Java-based Blackberry devices support S/MIME (Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions).
The comment that "approval by the DSD means the device can attract government users with high security requirements" is ridiculous. DSD has only approved them for use with the lowest of cl****ifications - IN-CONFIDENCE and RESTRICTED. Information of these cl****ifications can be sent through the mail using Australia Post.