Before Apple’s iPhone arrived 15 years ago, BlackBerry dominated the smartphone market. Due to users’ seeming addiction to the devices, which included constantly checking for emails and texts, it earned the moniker “CrackBerry.” Of course today, throughout the world everyone is nearly as addicted to their smartphones. BlackBerry was just one of the first companies to revolutionize mobile computing.
Apple’s entry into the market, followed by the arrival of Google’s Android devices two years later, triggered a slow decline for BlackBerry. Last year, the company officially ended support for its mobile phones, but it has refocused on providing intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world.
“Intelligent security software is in greater need than ever considering the constant attack on our systems by sophisticated nation state actors like Russia and China,” warned Roger Entner, technology analyst at Recon Analytics via an email to ClearanceJobs.
Blackberry Working With NATO
This week, BlackBerry also announced that the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) has awarded security accreditation to BlackBerry’s SecuSUITE for Government for global use in official NATO secure communications. The agency supports classified communications and work between NATO’s member nations, including communications that must be secure, and it works to address efforts to electronically eavesdrop on conversations.
The NCI Agency has awarded SecuSUITE security accreditation for high level secure communications, to protect secure voice and messaging communications.
“Security is imperative in times of peace and conflict, and we need to be confident that calls and messages sent within the NATO alliance remain completely confidential at all times,” said Jean-Paul Massart, chief of NATO Digital Workplace at the NCI Agency.
“This is particularly true of secure communications, where our cyber-defense strategy has a particular focus. BlackBerry SecuSUITE enables our teams to use their smartphones for secure, encrypted contact inside and outside of the network, whatever their location,” added Massart.
Eavesdropping Threat Protection
SecuSUITE multi-platform technology was developed to provide protection from eavesdropping threats to national security communications of global governments and sensitive business communications of enterprise executives. This includes end-to-end encryption of voice calls, and text messages, while it further secures one-to-one calls, group calls and messaging across international networks.
SecuSUITE also ensures that calls from foreign networks to any standard mobile or VoIP phones are also protected.
“Recent world events have emphasized the importance of watertight communications security. Information in the wrong hands can be dynamite and the NATO alliance is keenly aware of how important it is to secure their mobile communication flows to protect its people and operations,” explained Christoph Erdmann, SVP Secusmart at BlackBerry. “Receiving NATO accreditation underlines NATO’s trust in our technology and we’re honored to continue our support for the organization’s work.”
BlackBerry is Back
The once dominant maker of mobile phones has successfully transitioned into a dominant player in backend security for mobile communications.
“The company is still a player in the wireless world. But instead of selling smart phones, they sell their highly secure software to protect business and government users,” explained telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan.
“The wireless revolution continues to transform the way we live, do business and communicate,” Kagan told ClearanceJobs. “However wireless is not secure. Business and government users require security. That creates a need, and that need for security in wireless is what BlackBerry is all about.”
It may be Apple and Google devices in the hands and pockets of users worldwide, but it is BlackBerry that could ensure those devices are secure. Its SecuSUITE already has a history of Common Criteria certifications based on National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) Security Protection Profiles and continues to be available under the U.S Commercial Solutions for Classified Component List.
“They are an important player in the business and government marketplace to secure your wireless communications,” said Kagan.
BlackBerry Secusmart will be demonstrating its SecuSUITE at this week’s NATO Edge 2022 conference in Mons, Belgium.
