Blackberry [BBRY] has launched a new Professional Cybersecurity Services practice to further expand its security portfolio through offering new consulting services, the company said Feb. 24.
The new practice is intended to address the market demand for the risk of cybersecurity for organizations that depand on mobile endpoints that connect through networked and cloud-enabled platforms. The general cybersecurity consulting market is estimated to be a $16.5 billion annual global business with forecasts to grow up to $23 billion per year by 2019, Blackberry said.
The company sees the increasing market value of cybersecurity consulting as a “natural market opportunity” for Blackberry “since it already securely manages hundreds of millions of mobile endpoints and provides critical systems software for more than 60 million connected cars,” the company said in a statement.
The combined new consulting services and existing solutions offered by Blackberry “will help customers identify the latest cybersecurity threats, develop risk appropriate mitigation strategies, implement and maintain IT security standards and techniques, and defend against the risk of future attacks,” the company said.
Blackberry outlined four security sectors it is aiming its new Professional Cybersecurity Services Practice toward to address:
- Strategic security, which consists of best practices in information technology (IT) operation across enterprise mobility management and cloud services;
- Technical security, the technical assistance for infrastructure and product development lifecycle;
- Automotive and Internet of Things (IoT) security, which includes security consulting services as the rapid commercialization of IoT solutions makes security and privacy a top priority; and
- detection, testing and analysis, which encompasses threat detection and mitigation penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, and incident response analysis. This also includes forensic services, business security status via IT health checks, training, and regulatory compliance and security breach management through incident response.
The company also announced it acquired the U.K.-based Encription Limited as part of the Professional Cybersecurity Services practice. The acquisition was completed on Feb. 19. The company declined to disclose specific details of the deal.
Encription’s specialties range from deep technical skills in software security to hardware capabilities, Blackberry said. This includes industry-leading assessments in penetration testing that mimics the techniques of malicious hackers to ensure organizations are aware hacking risks and how to address them.
The company highlighted Encription has high level U.K. government security standards with CESG CHECK IT and ISO/IEC 27001 certifications.
“We recognize that security vulnerabilities are a top risk concern for public and private sector organizations alike. The creation of our Professional Cybersecurity Services practice and acquisition of Encription reinforces our commitment to providing customers the industry’s most secure mobility solutions and helping them to assess and mitigate risks,” John Chen, executive chairman and CEO of BlackBerry, said in a statement.