Having sold its Cylance endpoint security portfolio to Arctic Wolf, the former smartphone pioneer is doubling down on military-grade encryption and post-quantum cryptography to shield critical infrastructure from AI-driven threats
Once synonymous with the corporate smartphone, BlackBerry has spent the past decade transforming into a supplier of software to protect confidential information and connected vehicles.
Now, faced with an onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cyber threats and the looming shadow of quantum computing, the company has restructured again to focus almost entirely on mission-critical communications.
“All we now do is focus specifically on secure communications for government and critical infrastructure,” Jonathan Jackson, BlackBerry’s field chief information security officer for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, said in a recent interview with Computer Weekly.
The focus on secure communications comes as nation-state actors and sophisticated cyber criminals are starting to use AI to execute deepfakes and impersonation attacks via messaging apps favoured by many government officials and business executives.
While apps like WhatsApp and Signal offer end-to-end encryption for data in transit, Jackson noted that state-sponsored hackers are often more interested in harvesting metadata that reveals who’s talking to whom, when, and from where.
“When the product is free, you’re the product,” said Jackson, referring to companies that monetise user data by selling it to third-party advertisers. “That’s what state-sponsored actors are going for. It’s the metadata which needs to be protected, and without a sovereign control system, that information is available to everybody.”
The risk of having their metadata compromised by threat actors is enough to cause alarm for government officials. “You can’t run a country using WhatsApp,” said Jackson. “It’s not good enough anymore. WhatsApp is compromisable.”
To address such vulnerabilities, BlackBerry provides an encryption layer that sits on top of telecommunications or satellite networks. Whether a government official is using email, Slack, or voice messaging, the company’s software containerises and secures the data while strictly controlling metadata and verifying identity.
APAC footprint
The APAC region has been a focus market for BlackBerry. The company has based its regional headquarters in Malaysia, following a major partnership agreement with the Malaysian government in late 2023.
The problem is education and awareness, because there’s a lot of scaremongering out there about Q-Day and that the world is ending. It absolutely is not. This is a marathon that we all need to work towards
Jonathan Jackson, BlackBerry
The crown jewel of its regional investment is the Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence in Cyberjaya, Malaysia’s technology hub. Since its launch in May 2024, the facility has trained over 9,000 people across ASEAN, partnering with academia and security training organisations like Sans, CompTIA and EC-Council to run war-gaming simulations and red-teaming exercises.
BlackBerry is also taking part in threat intelligence efforts such as an upcoming regional cyber security cooperation initiative to facilitate real-time intelligence sharing across ASEAN member states.
The company is also helping to secure regional events. Its AtHoc critical event management system was deployed to coordinate security and logistics for the ASEAN 2025 summits in Malaysia. According to Jackson, the platform managed the secure movements of presidents, prime ministers and military generals, replacing the “absolute chaos” of coordinating via thousands of unsecured group chats.
Furthermore, BlackBerry serves as co-chair of the Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI), which, according to Jackson, is driving an initiative related to “dealing with ransomware from a quantum perspective” later this year.
The road to quantum-safe security
Meanwhile, BlackBerry is preparing organisations for the looming “Q-Day”, a hypothetical point in the future when quantum computers become powerful enough to break the encryption algorithms that currently secure the internet.
For the enterprise, the transition to quantum-safe architecture is already underway. Jackson refers to 2026 as the “year of inventory”, a period where organisations are mapping out their cryptographic bill of materials (CBOM) to understand where vulnerable certificates and algorithms reside.
“I’m not worried about the technology; we’re going to get it right,” said Jackson. “The problem is education and awareness, because there’s a lot of scaremongering out there about Q-Day and that the world is ending. It absolutely is not. This is a marathon that we all need to work towards.”
QNX driving embedded growth
Besides finessing its cyber security business, BlackBerry is bolstering its QNX embedded software division with the QNX Everywhere initiative, which provides free access to QNX software for students, hobbyists and prototypers for non-commercial use. The move has opened up the platform to a broader developer base, driving adoption across robotics, healthcare and semiconductor industries.
Today, QNX is deployed in over 275 million vehicles worldwide – up from 215 million just three years ago – and is used by 24 of the top 25 electric vehicle makers. Because vehicles and heavy machinery have lifespans stretching decades, Jackson added that making QNX quantum-safe has been a priority for the company since as early as 2016.
Between securing the software-defined vehicles of the future and providing the secure communications infrastructure required by governments, BlackBerry’s highly focused strategy appears to be paying off. “We’re very focused, financially very astute, and we are growing very well,” said Jackson.
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