BlackBerry introduces a solution for bi-directional response communications during cyber incidents

WATERLOO — BlackBerry Limited announced a new integration that combines Managed Detection and Response (MDR) protection of CylanceGUARD® with secure Critical Event Management (CEM) powered by BlackBerry® AtHoc®. In the event of a cyberattack, organizations that select a CylanceGUARD subscription with AtHoc features will benefit from secure, multi-channel internal and stakeholder communications for incident response actions, with the ability to alert, communicate and collaborate from within the CylanceGUARD platform, even when the usual communications infrastructure is not available.

John Giamatteo, President, BlackBerry Cybersecurity, says: “Organizations need to consider how they would communicate when their network is compromised. If email and chat services are down or can’t be trusted, how would they mobilize the right people to act, and provide guidance across the company as the situation unfolds? Too often, secure and reliable communication is a critical missing element of cyber incident response that creates costly uncertainty and delays.”

BlackBerry AtHoc is an interoperable CEM system that is trusted by organizations and used by over 75% of U.S. federal government employees for crisis communications and incident response. Users can activate incident response plans for impacting situations, capture real-time information, and deploy secure communication to specified groups. For organizations with limited IT resources that typically select CylanceGUARD protection, the opportunity to upgrade to a CylanceGUARD subscription with AtHoc features will bring benefits previously available to large, well-resourced entities available to defenders of any size and scale.

Applying this agility in response to cybersecurity events means organizations protected by CylanceGUARD will be able to send secure, out-of-band communications from within the CylanceGUARD dashboard to a globally distributed workforce and stakeholder groups using BlackBerry AtHoc. The integration will allow administrators to manage receipt and response of deployed communications and bring IT and cybersecurity leaders together in protected communication channels. Escalation alerts will contain a brief description and a link to the escalation in the CylanceGUARD portal to speed analyst investigation and support.

Dr. Alison Brooks, Research Vice President, Worldwide Public Safety at IDC, added, “The cyber landscape is vast and advancing at an unprecedented rate. Communicating in times of crisis is key to their technology, and ensuring a strong foundation, and security standards are vital in ensuring those involved can communicate internally and externally in a secure and unified way.”