BlackBerry Launches BBM Protected for iOS and Android, Allows More Secure Messaging

BlackBerry is now offering its BBM Protected services for iOS and Android, which lets users to access a more secure version of the company’s BBM messaging service.

The serviced offered by the Canadian-based company is aimed at businesses that are looking for an enterprise-grade secure instant messaging service with all of the features of a consumer instant messaging application.

BBM Protected lets users initiate encrypted conversations with other BBM Protected users inside or outside of their organization. However, BBM Protected users can also initiate conversations with non-BBM Protected users whenever that level of security is necessary.

“BBM Protected offers an enterprise-grade secure instant messaging service with all the features of a consumer IM app, the hardening of on-premise security together with the convenience of a cloud service. All messages are encrypted using keys generated by the communicating mobile devices themselves. This BlackBerry innovation effectively prevents ‘man in the middle’ hacker attacks, providing greater security than competing encryption schemes, and earning BBM Protected FIPS 140-2 validation by the U.S. Department of Defense.

With the announcement this week, organizations using BBM Protected can now let their employees chat securely using BBM Protected to non-BBM Protected workers at other companies, or customers. The result: instant federation and bulletproof security for messaging communications with partners outside of your enterprise.”

Best of all, BBM Protected is a service that is easy for IT administrators to deploy and manage. The company has also included a new cloud-based console that lets IT administrators manage any mobile platform (BlackBerry 10, iOS, and Android) from a single unified interface.

BBM Protected is available through an extra subscription service from BlackBerry, however they are also offering a 30-day free trial. The iPhone version of BBM Protected works with any device running iOS 6.0 or later and with BBM version 2.6 or later.