BlackBerry adds “Reset to Factory Default” option
One of the largest complaints over the last few years in the BlackBerry world has been the inability to remove the IT policy on a device that was formerly on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. As I tell those who ask me, when a device is activated on a BES, it retrieves the policy and then locks it in a read-only state; when you wipe the device, it opens that policy to a read/write state where it can be overwritten by another policy.
Well, in an effort to send former employees out and on their way to a nice, soft pillowed landing without a restrictive policy on their device, even after a security wipe, RIM has now added the ability for the BES Administrators to send a kill command that will remotely wipe the device and set it back to "Factory Defaults", or removing the IT Policy (and third-party applications), in addition to the command’s standard wiping tasks.
Remote Wipe Reset to Factory Defaults
Specify whether the BlackBerry device resets itself to factory default settings when it receives the Erase Data and Disable Handheld IT Admin command over the wireless network. Set this IT policy rule to True to require the BlackBerry device to permanently delete its stored IT policy and delete all third party applications, in addition to performing the BlackBerry device wipe process.
If you do not set this rule, a default value of False will be used.
This rule applies only to Java-based BlackBerry devices version 4.2.2 and higher.
Obviously this can only benefit some, as those purchasing their devices from eBay likely don’t have access to a BES server, but it still shows that someone ‘up there’ is listening to even the most minor of our requests.
This feature is available as an IT Policy option in BES 4.1 SP4 (look under Security Policy Group) and, as mentioned above, is only applicable to those devices running OS 4.2.2 and above (BlackBerry Curve and 8830 only, for now).
On Jun 15, 2007 @ 12:45 pm, bewood Said:
As a BES administrator you would think they would re-activate the device using a blank default policy before issuing the device to someone outside of their network. After the device is activated using the blank policy then you can simply “wipe handheld” through the security settings of the device. That would put the handheld back to default except it would keep the 3rd party apps just erasing all the data.
None the less that feature will save time for BES admins. Although it was possible to remove the policy before they made this update, sure is nice to have a built in feature now.
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On Jun 15, 2007 @ 2:51 pm, BBRules Said:
This feature is not that great since you can currently send a “blank” policy before sending the Erase commeand. What would be nice is if the Wipe Handheld option in the device would remove the IT Policy.
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On Jun 15, 2007 @ 5:55 pm, Crunk Said:
I agree with…sending a “blank” policy is still a policy. Resetting it back to factory has been long overdue.
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On Jun 19, 2007 @ 4:50 pm, bewood Said:
Good call Jibi.Your absolutly right. Some of the features will still be disabled due to security reasons but probably not noticable to the average corporate/consumer users who only use half of the built in features. Only the real geeks who take full advantage of their devices would notice the difference.
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On Jul 13, 2007 @ 1:27 pm, Kanchou Said:
Sending a blank policy dosn’t completly work. The user still wont have control to turn on and off the firewall.
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On May 30, 2008 @ 1:26 am, Bader Said:
can anybody help me please.. i just bought an BB 8820 and it is locked to Etisalat network carrier. is there any way i can unlock it to use different carriers ? what if i reset it to the factory defaults .. will i be able to use it on a a different carriers. thank you
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