BlackBerryInsight

You can use your BlackBerry for everything!

We already wrote a lot articles about the BlackBerry and the internal task database, contacts and notes. Those are very useful abilities the BlackBerry is offering and they help us to keep our life organized (in some way). It is also possible to synchronize our data with our desktop computer or enterprise environment (Microsoft Ecxhange, Novell Groupwise, Lotus Notes, etc.) to get access to our items on our computer as well. Or even to share them. Anyway, today we will show you how to use your BlackBerry to transfer your data from e.g. a PC to a Mac. (For proofing that I know what I am talking about: In July I switched over from my Windows XP desktop PC to a Mac OS X powered MacBook. The BlackBerry was a huge help!)

As the BlackBerry is able to synchronize those data with a Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista PC and a Mac OS X computer transferring data is pretty easy.

1. Get all your data to your BlackBerry
Remember, we are talking about Microsoft to Mac OS synchronization. Therefor, just connect your BlackBerry (e.g. via USB) to your Windows machine and setup the synchronization like described in the article How to synchronize my BlackBerry with my Desktop Computer (Microsoft Windows). After this is done, all of your confidential data should be on your BlackBerry.

2. Import the data from your BlackBerry
Importing the data to your Mac is also easy going. Just connect your BlackBerry to your Mac and setup the data configuration like described at the article How to synchronize my BlackBerry with my Desktop Computer (Mac OS X).

Please make sure all data will be synchronized. If there appears any conflict during the synchronization you can manually solve it. Please do also keep in mind that some Mac applications do not come with all features like Microsoft Outlook for example. E.g. iCal does not support recurring tasks. (I didn’t check Leopard yet, but it was not available in Tiger)

After you finished those two tasks you should be done. This also works vice versa for transferring data from a Mac to a Windows PC. Easy, huh?

P.S.: Well, I am sure someday it will be able to control my coffee machine with my BlackBerry.

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The BlackBerry is mostly a device that carries a lot of confidential information. So we do not anyone else to get access to that information. If I imagine that my BlackBerry is lost or stolen and everyone can just access my address book and grab Mike’s private phone number… You know what I mean.

It is crutial to our business to protect our data!

Below we will mention some procedures and methods to take care of your data and protect it from unauthorized access.

1. Device Passord

The first and most easiest way is to protect your BlackBerry is to enter a password for switching the BlackBerry on. Most of the time you will not need to enter this password as your BlackBerry is supposed to be “always on, always connected”. You can see a screenshot below on how to to so. You can set this up at “Options » Security Options » General Settings”.

2. Wipe Confidential Information In Case
This, of course, requires that you are doing backups of your BlackBerry regularily!

So if you come into a situation where your BlackBerry might go into hands you don’t want to get access to your confidential data you can just wipe out confidential information like tasks, contacts and calendar events. EmergencyWipe offer an easy and fast way to do so. It is always recommended to have this ability.

3. Content Encryption
The BlackBerry has advanced features to protect your confidential data. They are just deactivated by default. You enable the BlackBerry’s internal content encryption and so assure that your data is not saved in raw text on a device. Saving raw data on the device’s memory makes it very easy for crackers to read it once they obtained posession of your BlackBerry. You can set this up at “Options » Security Options » General Settings”:

4. Password Encryption
There is an already built-in password encryption / storage on your BlackBerry’s desktop called “Password Keeper”. It is a safe way to store passwords on your BlackBerry. You can only access this password store using a password you have set before. This is more secure way to store passwords than using MemoPad or EMails in your mailbox.

This is secure enough to store some passwords may be coded to a credit / atm card on the device. I would not write complete login data in there as it is always a good idea to be prepared if someone finally cracks the store.

5. SD-Card / Media Card Encryption
If you have installed a media card in your BlackBerry you might have also stored some data on it. In most cases your data is not that confidential as on the BlackBerry’s internal memory. Anyway, I don’t want other people to get access to the photos I took or the tracklogs I recorded (remember: those carry the locations where you went to). Alternatively, you can enable the encryption mode for your BlackBerry’s internal SD card to protect your data. This activation can be done at: “Options » Advanced Options » Media Card”. A screenshot of that settings screen can be found below.

We hope this guide helps a bit in securing and protecting your data. If there is anything we forgot, please feel free to use the comment function.

Related Articles:

• Secure ID System on BlackBerry Devices
• BlackBerry Security Guidelines?

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