I've just received my monthly copy of BlackBerry Connection.

This issue's lead article is about Smart Card security, as practiced by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Inside, there are pieces about ensuring your BlackBerry changes its time settings to Daylight Savings Time, BlackBerry solutions for various industries, and even how to play Tetris on your BlackBerry.

Well, it should come as no surprise that we are starting to see anti-spam filters for BlackBerry.

I mean, only a matter of time before the spam mills discovered mobile devices, right?

Antair Spam Filter 1.3 lets you adjust filters for the strength of anti-spam protection you want on your BlackBerry.

I'd choose Normal. Strong, and you might get some false positives. That's when non-spam gets caught in the filter and when the person you sent you that like totally legit email pings you with "did you get my email," and then you see it is in your junk email.

From developer Antair Corporation, the Blackberry flavor of Antair Spam Filter costs $49.95. Club Handango Members pay $44.95.

Clicking Read below this post will get you to Handago.com's Antair Spam Filter order and download page.

BlackBerry Forums member Andrew Palmer writes this morning that Verizon Wireless sent him a reworked, second-hand 8703e, or "Field Replacement Unit" (FRU) BlackBerry 8703e8703e, to replace his 8703e that melted down after just 60 days use. Yet the Verizon replacement arrived -- "and this I find alarming -- with the previous owner's private data STILL ON IT."

Ooh, that doesn't sound good.

Here's the personal data the replacement unit contained:

• Two active -- and quite accessible -- email accounts.
• All the emails of those accounts
• All her personal contacts
• All her calendar events for October and November, 2006
• All her logged calls
• All other data, unwiped.
  

Here's what Andrew did when he discovered this mess:

• First, I made a full backup of the previous owner's 8703e data.
• Wiped clean the phone, reinstalled BB OS so I could get it working and use it. (Still not fully data enabled, even after 2 hours with Tech Support.)
• Contacted Verizon Tech. and notified them they irresponsibly sent me the previous owner's private data, told them her name, and told them I intended to contact her and inform her about Verizon's carelessness.
• Took the full back up and emailed it to the previous owner (on her yahoo account) and notifed her of how Verizon had compromised her privacy. I included some plain text examples, to authenticate her private information about which I wrote. I also strongly encouraged her to contact Verizon and drop the hammer on them (hell, contact an attorney).
  

Kudos to you, 'drew. You done the right thing.

• When trying to download any kind of application, by default the BlackBerry device first downloads a small portion of the application to determine the hash and verify whether the application is permitted on the BlackBerry device.
• BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrators can set IT policies and application control policies in the BlackBerry Manager to control the manual or automatic installation of third-party applications on BlackBerry devices and third-party application access to their organization's BlackBerry device resources and applications.
• IT or BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrators can also place the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution in multiple network segments by installing each component on a remote computer and then placing each component in its own network segment.

Phonemag notes that in a survey of 85 taxicab companies serving the San Francisco-Oakland and the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan areas, 6,102 phones and PDAs were lost in taxis in the Washington-Baltimore area and 2,754 lost in SF region cabs within the last six months.

The good news is that mobile devices, including BlackBerrys, have a tendency to be returned: some 80 percent return rate in DC and 65 percent in SF.

But just having your device returned may not be enough for a reassuring feeling.

"It is good news that most of the lost devices were eventually returned to their owners. However, simply recovering the lost equipment may not be enough for all organizations," said Marty Leamy, president of Pointsec Mobile Technologies (which commissioned the study). "Corporations and government agencies need to know what happened to their sensitive data while it was out of their hands.

"Without proper safeguards and data encryption," Larny addedit may be impossible to tell whether the information was improperly accessed before the lost equipment was returned."

Dutch intelligence service AIVD has told Dutch MPs to stop using the Blackberry to access their email because their messages are prone to interception, The Register newspaper reports today.

In 2003 one hundred Blackberry handhelds were given to leading politicians and campaign workers from the Dutch CDA (Christian Democratic) party. The concept was that they could access their e-mail wherever they were on the campaign trail.

"Being able to react to and agree on things rapidly is essential," Dutch Premier and leader of the CDA Jan Peter Balkenende told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf when the devices are received.

Now almost every Dutch MP owns a Blackberry. However, last year Dutch intelligence service AIVD had already warned MPs not to discuss anything important through the device because theoretically every message can be intercepted, despite the fact that the Blackberry is capable of using Triple DES encryption for data transmission. Unfortunately, end-to-end encryption (where both parties are secured) cannot always be guaranteed.

The Dutch Department of Defense is sticking with BlackBerrys, saying it is using its own solution for securing data transmission

There's more than one solution that lets you use your BlackBerry to retrieve and view documents from your enterprise file server.

Condor File Explorer is a thrid-party solution that uses the MDS featur eon your BlackBerry Enterprise Server to perform these functions.

This is done via a connection to the Active Directory. When the directory structure is published to the BlackBerry handheld, approved file type directories and related file lists are tramsmitted, secured by AES/3DES encryption. Once the BlackBerry device receives these files, they are cached on the handheld and canonly be updated upon user request.

Additionally, the administrator may customize which files will be displayable on users' devices.

Solution Technology said it will debut an all-in-one integrated ArmorPlus for BlackBerry 7200 utility.

To be rolled out at the upcoming Emergency Technology Business Showcase in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a week from today, the application will include functionalities for for Barcode Scanning, GPS, Touch Screens with eSiguature and Secure Data Memory Card capability.

Specific components include:

• Class 2 laser barcode scanner from Symbol Technologies;
• ArmorPlus for BlackBerry GPS, with off-road and off-net capabilitiesm abd
• Touch Screen Window option with signature capture capabilities and a touch-sensitive window;

Even if just for an excess of caution, some security experts advise BlackBerry users to change their passwords from time to time.

Before some of you utter a collective "why is Russ writing about something so simple," let me tell you why I have chosen to do so.

That's because the BlackBerry Technical Knowledge Center -probably via internal memos from Tech Support- has decided this question is common enough to work up and post a new document describing how you should do this.

Essentially, you have two choices:

Your first alternative is type an incorrect password ten times. The data on the BlackBerry device will be erased and the password will be reset. After your BlackBerry is resent, you'll see a prompt for a new password.

The document notes that During the process of typing an incorrect password ten times, you may be prompted to type blackberry a few times.

But what if you don't want to go through that error-and-trial process to change your BlackBerry password? You have an alternative.

The document advises:

1. On the Home screen, click Options > Security Options > General Settings. Note: If you are running BlackBerry Device Software 4.0 Service Pack 2 or earlier, click Options > Security.
2. Display the menu and select Change Password.
3. Complete the on-screen instructions.

With its vulnerability to hurricanes, South Florida has an important and vested interest in secure and dependable communications among mobile first responders.

• Update accurate PIN addresses automatically;
• Blast PIN messages to groups and distribution lists;
• Force message alerts to ensure immediate notifications;
• Know when messages are received and read; and,
• Store vital documents on handhelds for access regardless of coverage

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has just announced enhancements to the BlackBerry Smart Card Reader software that will make it possible for the Reader to facilitate controlled access over a Bluetooth connection to a PC running Windows XP Service Pack 2 of higher,

The Reader supports the ISO 7816 specification for smart cards, including support for Department of Defense Common Access Cards (CACs) and the DataKey/Safenet 330 cards.

It's also capable of using the embedded security credentials of a smart card to provide two-factor authenticated access via Bluetooth to BlackBerry handsets and PCs.

• Activation;
• Encryption Verification;
• Receiving Services, and
• Slow Synchronization.