BlackBerry has announced coming updates to its Guard 2.0 managed detection and response service, as well as a partnership with Google and Qualcomm to develop next-generation vehicle cockpits.
The announcements came Wednesday during the annual BlackBerry Security Summit, where experts gave virtual presentations on everything from ransomware to threat hunting.
The changes to BlackBerry Guard, which come into effect before the end of the year, will include incorporating the technology of BlackBerry’s Cylance artificial intelligence platform to give better mobile threat defense as well as user behavior risk analytics and network analytics.
“This enhanced feature set will protect enterprises and small businesses from the explosive growth of mobile phishing, malware attacks, attack propagation and insider threats from authorized personnel or compromised credentials,” the company said in a news release.
XDR enhancements
BlackBerry also announced new partners in its endpoint XDR (extended detection and response) ecosystem. The addition of Okta, Mimecast, Stellar Cyber and XM Cyber will provide its customers with an enhanced, more holistic enterprise cybersecurity experience, BlackBerry said.
New QNX reference design
BlackBerry also announced the availability of a QNX Hypervisor and VIRTIO-based reference design to virtualize Android Automotive OS on the third generation Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platform, helping automakers deliver the ultimate cockpit experience while accelerating time to market.
VIRTIO is an open standard that defines the interface between Android Automotive OS and the underlying hypervisor to deliver the full Android Automotive OS experience, BlackBerry said in a statement.
“The combination of the QNX Hypervisor and QNX’s VIRTIO implementation allows Android Automotive OS to run out of the box without modification,” it said. “This allows systems deployed in the field to easily upgrade to newer versions of Android Automotive OS as they are released.”
While the VIRTIO interface is standardized, BlackBerry said, the implementation of the interface is not. The BlackBerry QNX reference architecture has been extended to support dynamic graphics sharing between Android Automotive OS applications in the infotainment domain and the digital instrument cluster, shared Vulkan drawstream support, and system-wide audio management to holistically manage all sound within a vehicle.
Business units will converge
Meanwhile BlackBerry CEO John Chen told the conference that while the company this year whittled its business units down to two – Cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) – they aren’t separate. Rather, he predicted, they will converge.
Both need security, he suggested, which BlackBerry specializes in, and the company will continue investing in embedded security for auto and in the general embedded market (known as GEM). From the cybersecurity unit, it will add embedded artificial intelligence and machine learning to protect IoT devices from attack.
“Why will we win in IoT? First and foremost we are baked in the auto space in the embedded RTOS –real-time operating system” (called QNX) – with our microkernel technology. It’s in 105 million cars today,” he said.
Through a partnership announced last December with Amazon to develop and market BlackBerry’s Intelligent Vehicle Data Platform (IVY), BlackBerry can connect vehicle telemetry to the cloud, he added. This will help manufacturers lower the cost of accessing data.
Ultimately, he predicted, vehicles could connect to a smart city.
On the cybersecurity side, which includes BlackBerry’s desktop and mobile device products, BlackBerry has a large installed base around the world, in governments, and in regulated industries such as banking and healthcare, he noted. These technologies, like AI and machine learning, can also be used on the IoT side.
The convergence will come because cybersecurity ensures secure communications of any type of endpoint device, he argued – desktop, mobile and vehicle. “It’s not two different strategies, but one strategy and two ways to address it.”
