February 25, 2019

BlackBerry completes acquisition of AI-based cybersecurity firm Cylance

The acquisition seeks to position the mobile company as endpoint security, threat and virus detection provider in the cybersecurity market.

Mobile and ICT firm BlackBerry have completed the USD 1.4 billion acquisition of AI-based cybersecurity firm Cylance. As per the terms of the deal, the integration of Cylance’s capabilities will allow BlackBerry to boost their IoT security platform Spark.

BlackBerry believe that endpoint security is of utmost importance and the data that flows between these endpoints is critical to business. They say that since this data is business sensitive in nature, it also needs to be protected from virus and cyber attacks that are on the rise.

By acquiring Cylance, BlackBerry claim that they will integrate the former’s AI-based cybersecurity prowess into their IoT platform to help enterprises intelligently connect, protect and build secure endpoints. They futher added that integration will provide their customers with an extra layer of threat protection and boost their overall detection and monitoring prowess.

Cylance believe that the acquisition will boost its position as a cybersecurity provider once they are integrated into BlackBerry’s Spark platform. They say that their Optics, ThreatZero and Smart Antivirus products will provide endpoint remediation and reaction prowess to BlackBerry’s Spark and help enterprises detect, mitigate and eradicate threats in advance.

Industry experts claim that this acquisition will allow BlackBerry to entice a new segment of customers. It will be interesting to see how the mobile giant takes this deal ahead, following Cylance’s partnership with Netskope to boost cloud security.