The folks at Blackberry are serious about security and privacy. That’s why the PRIV was named after the latter word. What better way to ensure folks that their promise to uphold those values will never fade than to commit to delivering monthly security patches?
The company confirmed those plans in a blog post today, where they confirmed they’d join the likes of Samsung in making sure folks get the latest security fixes in a timely manner. Those who buy the phone straight through Shop Blackberry will get the updates from Blackberry, while devices bought through carriers such as AT&T will have their updates go through a rapid approval process compared to the lengthy maintenance upgrades we’re used to.
Beyond that, Blackberry’s also committing to quick hotfixes for security holes which may be too severe to wait for the monthly security patch. That’s a new one that we haven’t heard many other OEMs willing to do, so it’ll be interesting to see how/if they can hold themselves to that standard.
The company also went in detail about BES and OTA management for companies, noting that systems administrators can have full control over the distribution of updates for company phones. You can read more about all of that right here.