RIM rebuffs claims BlackBerry encryption keys given to Indian government

Research in Motion (RIM) has been forced to once again deny claims that it has provided the Indian government with the necessary keys to access BlackBerry communications among its enterprise customers.

RIM said in a statement sent to V3 on Thursday that the Indian government does not possess such keys.

"RIM has found it necessary to correct some false and misleading information appearing in the media in India and would like to take an opportunity to set the record straight," it said. 

"As we have stated on several occasions, and as we have set out in our company's Lawful Access Principles, RIM cannot access information encrypted through BlackBerry Enterprise Server as RIM is not ever in possession of the encryption keys."

The Indian government has claimed to have skeleton keys to BlackBerry enterprise servers on several occasions, starting in 2010.

The most recent claim stemmed from The Times of India, which published an article claiming an unnamed RIM source confirmed handing the keys over to the country's government on Thursday.

Despite its insistence, the authenticity of the Indian government's claims are questionable as it's unlikely such keys exist at all.

This is because BlackBerry corporate users connected to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), actually create their encryption keys when setting up their BES, meaning communication between the handset and the BES should be secure against even the most complex of cyber attacks.