BlackBerry has been selected by Giuliani Partners to support cyber security consulting services to the government and to private firms. The recently released BlackBerry Secure platform will provide the underlying software for the firm’s cyber security consulting product.
The partnership was announced at the CES 2017 conference in Las Vegas.
Giuliani Partners will use BlackBerry Secure software to analyze existing infrastructure, identify vulnerabilities, and devise solutions to make cyber systems more secure. For its part, BlackBerry will achieve another step in the effort to reinvent itself as a provider of cyber security solutions, after last year’sannouncement that the company would begin outsourcing production of its signature mobile phones.
BlackBerry’s foray into the cyber security arena is bolstered by last year’s acquisition of UK security firm Encription, which helped the company to change focus from a phone-based past to a more services-oriented future. Currently, in addition to the BlackBerry Secure enterprise software, the company also offers the BlackBerry Security Incident Response Team (SIRT) to assist clients that have been victims of a cyber attack.
Rudy Giuliani, chairman and CEO of Giuliani Partners, believes that the partnership between his consulting firm and BlackBerry will ‘enable corporations to set a new standard for being cyber secure.’
To that end, said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO of BlackBerry, “Businesses must be able to confidentially and reliably transmit sensitive data between endpoints to keep people, information and goods safe. We are pleased to be working closely with Giuliani Partners to offer BlackBerry Secure products and services to new customers in the fight against cyber security threats.”
The partnership was announced on the same day that U.S. Intelligence officials gave testimony before Congress regarding the claims that Russian hackers illegally accessed Democratic Committee emails and released them to the public in an effort to sway voters in the presidential election.
Giuliani Partners joins the BlackBerry channel reseller network of over 1500 software channel partners that resell BlackBerry software to third parties. Giuliani was the keynote speaker at last July’s BlackBerry Security Summit. At the time, he said his interest in cyber security stemmed from his strong feelings about fighting crime and identity theft.
“Blackberry is on the cutting edge of thwarting crime,” he said. “I’m very proud to be working with them.”