[tjoep]

Hi all,

I'm a support employee and have to support our company's blackberry users.
Now I have this colleague who locks her blackberry al the time, and I have to reset the blackberry-password each time. It's getting a tedious and repetitive job. According to her, she needs to password protect her device (because of the confidential data on the device, which I can understand) and she claims that she never enters the wrong passwords. But somehow the device gets locked out verry easy. The last few days we've had multiple calls from her.

She has a blackberry 8820 and the firmware is 4.2.2.116, and the BEs server says that she has no Security Password
The default lock keys do not seem to work for her.

I've tried so far:
hxxp://crackberry.com/keyboard-shortcuts-locking-your-blackberry/
but it's under settings - security options - general settings - and set the Lock Handheld Upon Holstering to “Yes”.

“On Suretype devices, like the 7100 or the Pearl, you can hold down the “*” key and the device will lock, AllBlackBerry.com points out. “On Qwerty devices like the 8700, hold down the Alt-key and the Enter-key.
source: hxxp://blogs.zdnet.com/blackberry/?p=207

If you are going to keep the phone in your pocket, press and hold the mute key on the top of your phone. This will put the phone in standby mode and prevent accidental key presses.
source: hxxp://supportforums.blackberry.com/rim/board/message?board.id=8300&thread.id=16695

Also when you hit the lock icon on the desktop it locks the phone. You can also just press the "k" key and it will also lock the phone. Much easier than looking for icon. I never realized there was a keypad lock. The lock function locks the phone until password is entered.
source: hxxp://forums.crackberry.com/f61/set-keypad-lock-password-14072/

any idea's or just some random thoughts are appreciated.

thanks in advance,
Tjp

[Digital Jedi]

you can set the convenience key to lock,, options - screen/keyboard - left side (to lock)

some users put the password in incorrectly because they have uppercased or number locked there keyboard (alt aA). make her aware of this, also be careful if she has the desktop software!! some people (all) get confused if there password in numeric!
ie on the device there password is 1965 but on there keyboard it would equate to - wcfd
but they keep putting in the numbers!

it sounds like the password is set from the device unless she has a different IT policy from the BES,.check that on the BES also check if she has a default policey and that it hasn't been amended!

also increase the password attempts for your user options security..


when you say lock it should prompt you to type BlackBerry in before going again...

is she getting that? how many attempts does she get before it locks? how are you unlocking the device??

(could be an old IT policey on the device if you apply a new policy you need to reapply)

[tjoep]

Thanks for your quick reply.

I'll be sure to check the numeric/uppercase stuff the next time. But if I get it correctly, she leaves it in her purse or something and then it gets locked. That's why I want her to lock the keyboard every time she doesn't use it.

Our users normally don't ever use the Desktop software. We've had a few problems with the wireless redirection being disabled because of that little piece of software. So I tell them not to use it when they come to me with their problems.

You are right about the word "blackberry". She has to type that word every time it gets locked. But what I still don't understand is why her blackberry isn't wiped after the lock. She's at a different location then me, so I can't really check her blackberry each time when she gets into trouble with it.
And in fact, she puts the password on the blackberry herself every time. We don't push any password policy with the BES. I unlock by going to the Blackberry Manager on our BES server, where I look up her user and click on the option "Set Password and Lock Handheld". I give her the password and then she unlocks the device and sets her own password to protect the blackberry.

I'm still looking into all the policy stuff. Could you give me a hint as where to find the option to increase the password attempts.

I'm also planning to update her firmware on the blackberry. I guess it can't hurt.

[FF2]

I don't recall the details but thought I had read that there can/could be problems with passwords of THREE characters or less on some BB's. Could that be her problem - a short password?

[tjoep]

thanks, I'll ask her to use a strong password.

[SteveO86]

For peace of mind your better off just forcing her to use a password of a min 4 digits via IT policy in an effort to ease your headache.

Of course if this user error to begin with then not much else you can do unless you physically type her password in for her and show her what to type in.