Camden Council bolsters BlackBerry security

Local authority is rolling out three-tier security solution to BlackBerry users

Camden Borough Council is to roll out a three-tier security solution from Absolute Software to 150 BlackBerry devices having deployed it on 1,500 laptops last July.

The solution offers password protection, encryption and the ability to remotely wipe data.

Ian Lawrence, the technical services manager at the London Borough of Camden, explained that the move was on the back of a Gartner report recommending that these three layers of security be implemented.

"If a device goes missing we can create a theft report through the Absolute Computrace console and then delete the data remotely. There is also a theft recovery team that liaises with the Metropolitan Police," he said.

The service costs £12 per licence per BlackBerry and £20 per laptop. Lawrence said that the council would roll out the security to the 150 most high use, high risk BlackBerry users initially, with a view to rolling out the solution to the remaining 450 over the next year. All the laptops within the council currently benefit from Absolute security.

The Absolute software offers other components including geo-fencing, which allows an operator to create a Google map fence around a building. This then notifies the when the laptop or BlackBerry is taken out of the building.

The same geo-location tool can be used to determine whether equipment is being taken out of the country.

Lawrence explained that the council tries to keep abreast and ahead of regulations and that the ICO's power to fine bodies that breach data have made it more aware of security.

"In hard times no one wants to be subject to a £100,000 fine," he said.