Canada's BlackBerry has partnered with Dicker Data which distribute the security vendor's full range of cybersecurity solutions across Australia and New Zealand.
The partnership includes BlackBerry’s Cylance endpoint security products, its unified endpoint management product, its ad-hoc critical event management product, and the SecuSUITE encrypted voice and messaging service.
CRN Australia spoke to Maria Pinna-Kardasis, BlackBerry's senior director for Asia-Pacific channels, and the company's director of engineering for APAC, Adam Sloan about what this means.
Pinna-Kardasis explained that BlackBerry's cybersecurity business is grounded in key pillars that are focused around innovation, trust and security, which the company has been renowed for over 40 years.
The four key pillars for BlackBerry are:
- Protecting data: this is through its Cylance endpoint securitity products underpinned by artificial intelligence, prioritising prevention over detection and response.
- Safeguarding devices: this involves BlackBerry's unified endpoint management with a containerised apprach to secure both corporate and personal device access.
- Protecting people: using an ad-hoc, critical event managment product which is really designed to securely connect people at times of crisis, with out-of-band, two-way communications capabilities that United States authorities in particular rely on.
- SecuSUITE: this offers encrypted voice and messaging services to protect conversations and customer communications.
In technical terms, Sloan explained that BlackBerry takes a preventative approach to cybersecurity, which the company contrasts with the reactive approach of some of its competitors.
“They’re kind of assuming that someone is going to be hit, but hopefully, that initial hit is so small that we can then respond to it after the fact, which to me, I can’t quite get my head around,” Sloan said.
"We’re very much focused on like, how do we, how do we lead with prevention?” he added.
BlackBerry’s preventative approach is powered by artificial intelligence.
The company claims that due the use of AI, its solutions have a high efficacy rate against zero-day attacks, including ransomware-as-a-service attacks.
“We do a lot of testing with these zero-days, these ransomware-as-a-service providers and groups," Sloan said.
The Cylance MDR Pro meanwhile for managed detection and response is designed for the small to medium sized business segment.
SMBs often lack the resources to build and maintain their own round-the-clock security operations centres (SOCs) and Cylance MDR Pro provides access to BlackBerry's team of security experts, Sloan said.
It is built on an Open XDR platform, powered by AI and supports over 300 integrations so that it can be used by a wide range of existing security tools.
"Cylance MDR Pro designed to tackle a lot of modern challenges that we’re seeing in cybersecurity, and is really going to help with that burden that security teams have in dealing with a lot of those sophisticated attacks and adversaries that are moving around," Sloan said.
The product also includes reporting capabilities, allowing businesses to track their security posture and see the value they are getting from the service.
BlackBerry said that it has seen customers go from hundreds of alerts per day to only a handful of incidents per month that require their attention after using Cylance MDR Pro.
Working with partners and distributors key to BlackBerry
The channel is how BlackBerry's offerings will reach customers, Pinna-Kardasis said.
“We are a partner-first organisation, so we are channel first, and we do have a strong partner ecosystem,” said Pinna-Kardasis
“We definitely take a co-sell approach when it comes to working together with our partners, including our resellers, to really look to drive opportunities and close deals together," she added.
The recent partnership with Dicker Data will give BlackBerry access to the distributor's extensive reseller network, enabling the company to reach a wider range of customers.
“Dicker Data are extremely professional, best-in-business distributors, so it’s extremely exciting for us,” Pinna-Kardasis said.
“We think this partnership will allow us to have access to a broad range of partners who really have the backing of the best in the business when it comes to distribution, best practice.”
The partnership is also part of BlackBerry’s strategy to increase its presence in the New Zealand market.
“Working with Dicker Data and the strong team that’s in the New Zealand market is extremely important, as we’re looking to grow in the New Zealand market,” Pinna-Kardasis said.
In the Australian market, BlackBerry works with many government, business, agriculture, health and education organisations and authorities.
"BlackBerry is very much focused on highly regulated industries and our products are very much aligned to that," Pinna-Kardasis said.
"But, we're really hoping to expand beyond those areas and customers with the [Dicker Data] partnership, and see a lot of opportunities in the mid-market," Pinna-Kardasis said.
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