While Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was introducing its new PlayBook 2.0 software at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, mobile security consultants from Intrepidus Group were talking about problems with the current PlayBook that could give hackers access to e-mail accounts and other private information.
In a speech at this week’s Infiltrate conference, researchers Zach Lanier and Ben Nell explained how to access the authentication token sent between the PlayBook and a BlackBerry device, and how to use it to connect to the PlayBook. According to ThreatPost, the researchers said that under certain conditions the token is accessible to sophisticated users when the “bridge” that connects PlayBook users to their BlackBerry e-mail is active. (The PlayBook does not currently have an e-mail client, so users connect to their BlackBerry e-mail using a “bridge.”)
RIM says the problem will not exist in the PlayBook 2.0 operating system, which is expected to be available next month as a free download. Macquarie Securities analysts Kevin Smithen and Zach Horat took a close look at the new software at CES this week and issued a positive review, writing: “We have been pleasantly surprised by the improved functionality of the new software, especially the native e-mail and calendar functionality, though the delayed launch of some of its features has really hurt the company over the past few quarters.”
