BlackBerry Priv recently went on pre-order in the UK with the Canadian smartphone manufacturer claiming that it is one of the most secure Android smartphones out there.
Considering that prospective consumers will have doubts about what exactly did BlackBerry do to make the Android-powered Priv more secure, the company has revealed what went into securing the Android Platform.
BlackBerry says that it has applied its world-renowned security model to Android and this includes BlackBerry’s Hardware Root of Trust, a unique manufacturing process that injects cryptographic keys into the device hardware, providing a secure foundation for the entire platform. Next up is the Verified Boot and Secure Bootchain, which uses the embedded keys to verify every layer of the device from hardware to OS to applications in order to make sure they haven’t been tampered with.
Because Android is based on Linux Kernel, BlackBerry hardened the underlying kernel with numerous patches and configuration changes to improve security. Further, the FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption has been turned on by default to protect your privacy.
The company is also banking on its BlackBerry Infrastructure, a secure distributed global network that transmits petabytes of encrypted data to and from the world’s most powerful leaders and professionals, and BES12, the leading Enterprise Mobility Management platform used by the world’s most powerful governments and corporations.
Some of the other features of BlackBerry Priv are seamless integration with Android for Work to provide secure separation between work and personal data and applications. The Personal Space lets you download apps and protects your personal privacy, while the Work Space lets the enterprise secure its corporate data.
Then there is the pre-loaded BlackBerry DTEK application that has been specifically designed to help you manage and protect your privacy. DTEK tells you which apps access your personal data and shows the overall security of your device based on factors such as the strength of your password, your encryption settings and the apps you have installed. DTEK even makes recommendations on how you can improve your overall security rating.
IT administrators can also use Google Play for Work to manage and deploy enterprise applications. This allows them to whitelist apps to create a custom catalogue, self-host the APK files and ensure that users cannot download apps to their work space from anywhere else.
