Director of BlackBerry Security Response talks about how RIM plans to curb Playbook jailbreaking

I’m Adrian Stone, and I am the Director of the BlackBerry Security Incident Response Team (BBSIRT) here at Research In Motion. The BBSIRT is responsible for responding to potential security issues and investigating vulnerability claims that may impact RIM’s products. Security is a priority for our customers, and that’s why I’ll be contributing regularly to this blog. For my first post, I want to provide some insight into how we investigate and respond to jailbreak-related reports.

“Jailbreaking”, or gaining root access to a device, has become common place in both the mobile and gaming industries. Essentially, gaining this deeper level of access to the core functions of the device allows the user to do things not originally intended by a manufacturer, such as install software outside of “official” channels. Unfortunately, gaining this level of root access may increase the security risk. For this reason, most device manufacturers, including RIM, strongly discourage jailbreaking while understanding that whole communities exist for just that purpose. At RIM, we take these issues very seriously. Let’s walk through how we assess and respond to jailbreaking reports.