Frost & Sullivan has published an assessment of the cyberthreat landscape and the proportion that BlackBerry’s suite of technologies can protect against, concluding that BlackBerry can secure all IoT endpoints, and upwards of 96% of all cyberthreats.
The report reviews the cyberthreat landscape and the proportion of risks that BlackBerry’s suite of solutions protect enterprises against.
Frost & Sullivan has analyzed the total threat to enterprises and independently compared it to BlackBerry’s capabilities in providing comprehensive enterprise cybersecurity across major vertical industries.
Through extensive research of its solutions, Frost & Sullivan has determined that BlackBerry’s portfolio of solutions can secure the vast majority of IoT endpoints and any data transmitted from or to them.
Some minor exclusions include older non-API technologies, such as an office printer tied to a local area network, or aged operational technology (OT, as opposed to IT) devices that do not use an API and were manufactured and installed before concerns of cybersecurity became apparent.
However, this does not impact BlackBerry’s ability to protect the enterprise. The proportion of these endpoints vs. API-connected devices is negligible and decreasing. They also are not typically targets for threat actors because they are isolated from more meaningful networks and data, and often would require a physical interaction in order to be compromised (such as with a USB)
After quantifying the overall market in terms of number of attacks and categorizing those attacks as more preventable by either network- or endpoint-based security, Frost & Sullivan determined that comprehensive endpoint-based security tools from BlackBerry protect against upwards of 96% of attacks, noting that the percentage is likely to increase because of the growing proliferation and importance of Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
BlackBerry’s portfolio of services covers the IoT: the endpoint itself; its operating system; any data it uses, transfers, or otherwise connects with; the systems, users, and partners that interact with the enterprise, its endpoints, and its data; and edge use cases that come from the dissolution of the additional network perimeter.
Areas of coverage include:
- Embedded security at the point of manufacture to secure the device and its operating system;
- Comprehensive, zero-trust based unified endpoint management (UEM) and unified endpoint
- security (UES) for both fixed and mobile endpoints;
- Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven endpoint security and authentication for scale across the entire IoT and for a smart solution that evolves ahead of the threat landscape;
- Securing data as well as endpoints with, for example, virtual desktops, VPN-optional file sharing, email, and private networks for talk/text/messaging;
- Enabling businesses to verify (or fix) source code from supplier-provided parts and
- components;
- Tracking assets and their integrity along the value chain and across logistics and transport;
- Ensuring business continuity with planned or unplanned event management and ecosystemwide crisis communication tools;
- Securing third-party apps (platform agnostic) for secure interoperability across the entire IoT
- ecosystem; and
- Bringing forward a cloud- and mobile-first strategy.
“With the pace of technological innovation, enterprise endpoints and the amount of data shared at the edge growing exponentially, and expanding device interconnectivity creating vulnerabilities at a rate few organizations can handle, today’s business environment is widespread with cyber chaos,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO of BlackBerry.
“Cyberattacks are a serious threat to everything from our personal data and privacy to an enterprise’s intellectual property and a nation’s critical infrastructure. To be recognized by Frost & Sullivan further validates our strategy to connect, secure, and manage every endpoint in the Internet of Things. And, with BlackBerry Spark®, businesses now have a comprehensive AI-powered Zero-Trust platform whose continuous authentication mechanisms provide ongoing validation and security confidence to manage these environments.”
The breadth and depth of cybersecurity across the government sector is immense. It can include everything from securing drones used for surveying disaster relief needs to full national security programs. Endpoints within government purview overlap with many of those noted above as well: managing fleet vehicles, overseeing energy and telecommunication systems, running hospitals, and securing personal financial data, among many others.
For example, the rise of smart cities has meant significant and continued growth of connected endpoints across infrastructure. Smart streetlights are being outfitted with additional sensors that can measure levels of traffic or air pollutants, detect gunshots or unusual crowd activity, and even help with predictive garbage collection. Public transportation is using an increasing array of sensors and analytics to provide better predictions of travel times.
Drones inspect infrastructure and investigate suspicious activity. This all presents a strong opportunity for BlackBerry to secure endpoints, as well as the third-party apps that allow residents and visitors, for instance, to access city information and services.
A major aspect of government activity also centers on public alerting and emergency response, something that has come to the forefront as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and protests against racial inequality and police brutality. These are critical aspects of local, state, and national health and safety, often requiring cooperation across agencies and the private sector.
BlackBerry addresses these challenges comprehensively as well, with 85% of the US government and 18 of the G20 governments already connected and protected with their BlackBerry Spark and BlackBerry AtHoc solutions.
In addition to the overall enterprise need, Frost & Sullivan assessed the potential for BlackBerry to address business security by major industry or application. The report found BlackBerry provides broad coverage for any industry that relies on endpoints, noting that industries with a higher proportion of new endpoints and devices, such as connected cars, would be fully within BlackBerry’s capabilities.
“For enterprises, we predict global cyber-crime related costs to hit $5 trillion (USD) in 2020 and the number of new connected devices to rise to 67 billion devices by 2025, an increase of 167% from 2019. Indeed, the swift pace of technological innovation, combined with companies and individuals’ ever-increasing demand for mobility, means that the attack surface area will expand by an overwhelming amount,” said Roberta Gamble, Partner and Vice President, Frost & Sullivan.
“For almost any organization, the question will no longer be if it will face a cyberattack—but rather, when. It is an imperative that all businesses ensure that endpoint security is the foundation of their strategy. Partnering with a solution provider like BlackBerry that has the technologies to comprehensively secure an enterprise’s data and communication is the most effective way to ensure security, resilience, and uninterrupted business continuity.”
A full copy of the report and summary brief can be downloaded here.
