Blackberry Harnessing AI To Stop Cyber Attacks In Their Tracks

The rise of AI is a double-edged sword: as it drives more and more devices, with IoT, software data and connectivity at unprecedented levels, it also provides more opportunities for cyber threats, which are growing exponentially.

Safeguarding burgeoning endpoints, such as mobiles, against attack or ransomware must increasingly rely on AI to remedy nefarious activities before they hit.

Blackberry executives were pressing the flesh yesterday in the Sydney stop of a world tour and touting cyberattack systems from the company’s recent $1.4 billion cash acquisition of security software company Cylance.

Out of this, according to Blackberry evangelist Brian Robison, CylanceProtect for mobile devices uses a patent-protected AI model to predict, prevent, contain and respond to advanced cyber threats before they can cause harm.

“We aim to stop an attack in its tracks with our mobile threat defence and automated prevention,” he told CDN. “And the technology we have now with Cylance has been very useful since we bought it,” Robison added.

He said 5G will open up new data sets, allowing Blackberry to protect pretty much everything under the sun.

“We are cash-rich and we are keeping our focus on the endpoints and where threats have escalated, along with the proliferation of devices,” Robison added.

David Nicol, A/NZ MD for Blackberry – pictured, page one – told CDN the raison d’être of the company is to help customers stay one step ahead of the game.

“Our aim for our solutions is to reduce time to identify and respond with a trustworthy solution,” he said.

Nicol told CDN that, while there are no acquisitions on the immediate horizon, the company is significantly in the black and will continue to spend 30% of its revenue on R&D.