Using Blackberry in Dubai? Beware!

The world's most advanced handset maker, BlackBerry, has charged that Gulf-based telecom company Etisalat had updated the programming of the phones which would give them "surveillance capabilities".

BlackBerry's parent company Research in Motion (RIM) said the software offered by Etisalat could "enable unauthorized access to private or confidential information stored on the user's smartphone", The Khaleej Times reported, quoting an eight-page customer update from RIM.

"RIM confirms that this software is not a patch and it is not a RIM-authorised upgrade. RIM did not develop this software application and RIM was not involved in any way in the testing, promotion or distribution of this software application," the statement said.

The "snifferware" was found to have capabilities to intercept e-mails and drain battery life quickly. It was pushed as an update to 145,000 BlackBerry users on Etisalat's network offering the "performance enhancing" patch, the newspaper said.

More than 300 users immediately complained that their smartphone had been rendered useless with the battery dying in less than 60 minutes. There was no immediate comment from Etisalat on the RIM's charge.