Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY): Z10 Owners, Don’t Get Stung by This Bug

Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) has been finding some mild if not outright underwhelming sales of its new Z10 handset with the touchscreen and the new BlackBerry 10 operating system under the hood. Because of that, this little security gem probably won’t apply to many more people than those who attend Charlotte Bobcats home games. (In other words … we think you get the idea. Not many.)

However, just a day after Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) made a statement that tried to downplay the alleged breach of BlackBerry by a U.S. intelligence agency during a couple of G20 summits four years ago by touting the security features of the BlackBerry OS, this little news item seems to loom a little larger than it would otherwise. Irony. Dripping.

BlackBerry recently sent out an advisory to Z10 owners asking them to update their BlackBerry devices if they have not done so, because a bug was found that seems to affect a limited number of Z10s – specifically, those that have not updated to BlackBerry 10.1 as of yet.

With one exception, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) BlackBerry 10.0 platforms were susceptible to a little bug. It wasn’t in the OS itself, but instead it was vulnerability in BlackBerry Protect, which is the main security platform for the OS. This vulnerability can come into play when a user downloads apps.

An app may be able to trick the Z10 and enable  a user’s password to be changed upon the app install, which then puts the password – and thus most important files on your phone – in the hands of the hacker. The bug may also prevent the phone from being wiped if it is stolen or went missing. Anyone running BlackBerry  or earlier will not be affected, as will all those who have upgraded their Z10 devices to BlackBerry 10.1, as the bug was fixed in the update.  If you have not been hacked at this point, it is advised that the update be placed on your handset as soon as possible.

Do you find this as ironic as we do in the context of the NSA and Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) and its brush with U.K. intelligence a few years ago? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below.

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