MONTREAL - A recent alleged settling of accounts between two rival Mafia leaders might have been a classic struggle for power but the method police used to gather evidence in the case was anything but traditional.
When Raynald Desjardins faces charges for the killing of Salvatore Montagna, the prosecution's evidence will include text messages from his BlackBerry smartphone.
That revelation has had many wondering about the security of their BlackBerry messages, which are encrypted upon sending and then decrypted upon reception.
"The Blackberry messenger has a type of security built in so it's more secure than the other phones," said Daniel Boteanu, Information Security Consultant. "And in theory the messages that are sent through the BB messenger are private and cannot be intercepted as can be the case for other phones."
So those who plan on organizing misdeeds thinking that the encryption will protect them against prosecution had better think twice.
"It's not because a device is very secure that criminal can use it to commit criminal activities," said Lawyer Eloise Gratton. "At the end of the day if a warrant is issued then even the police will be able to access these messages."
Police still require signed warrants from a judge to get access to read text messages in their investigations.
