Mr. Vito Giallorenzo reports

UPSTREAM SECURITY JOINS BLACKBERRY IVY PARTNER ECOSYSTEM TO PROTECT SOFTWARE-DEFINED VEHICLES FROM CYBER THREATS

BlackBerry Ltd. has entered a partnership with leading automotive cybersecurity platform Upstream Security to enable automakers to strengthen the overall security posture of their vehicles by leveraging the rich telemetry data and edge compute capabilities from BlackBerry IVY.

Upstream's cloud-native Vehicle Detection and Response (V-XDR) platform identifies automotive cybersecurity threats, anomalies and operational insights and is used by many of the world's largest automotive manufacturers, currently monitoring more than 20 million connected vehicles worldwide. Combining BlackBerry IVY with Upstream's purpose-built V-XDR platform, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) can now access and preprocess data at the vehicle's edge to deliver a broader set of actionable insights in near real time, maintaining cybersecurity compliance while significantly lowering their cloud connectivity costs.

Working with other IVY ecosystem members, BlackBerry has demonstrated that BlackBerry IVY can help automakers reduce their cloud data storage costs by up to 97 per cent. BlackBerry and Upstream expect to deliver significant data connectivity savings of up to 80 per cent while expanding cybersecurity protection coverage by preprocessing vehicle data at the edge across multiple systems. In doing so, together they will provide actionable insights to the Vehicle Security Operations Center (vSOC), such as preventing fleet-wide vehicle hacks and unauthorized access to ECUs, both of which have soared in recent years.

Together, BlackBerry IVY and Upstream can provide automakers with holistic coverage and mitigation of attacks while reducing cloud costs to help ensure vehicle fleets are protected amidst an industry landscape that has seen a rise in cyberattacks targeting both vehicles themselves and the broader smart transportation infrastructure they connect to.

"While automakers' software defined vehicle efforts promise to deliver an unprecedented number of new features and capabilities that will revolutionize the in-car experience, in tandem with that connectivity and complexity comes an exposure to risk and vulnerabilities that could potentially be exploited for malicious purposes," said Vito Giallorenzo, general manager of IVY and head of corporate development at BlackBerry. "Upstream Security has built a powerful platform that provides OEMs with a holistic view of the overall cybersecurity posture of their vehicles in order to stay one step ahead of today's and tomorrow's threats and with BlackBerry IVY we'll help them deliver more timely insights at a fraction of the cost, something which can make all the difference for a sector that increasingly has a target on its back."

"We are thrilled to partner with BlackBerry IVY and its cutting-edge in-vehicle solution," said Yoav Levy, chief executive officer and co-founder of Upstream. "Upstream has been a pioneer in leveraging connected-vehicle data to support OEMs and ensure trust and safety by effectively detecting and mitigating cybersecurity risks and attacks. Together with BlackBerry IVY, we can help OEMs dramatically optimize connectivity and cloud costs and ensure a comprehensive and long-term security-by-design strategy."

The joint announcement comes hot on the heels of the BlackBerry IVY platform's general availability and the tremendous growth of the network of IVY enabled partners, which now counts more than 30 businesses covering areas as diverse as electrification, e-commerce, safety and security, vehicle life cycle and operations, and the in-cabin experience, which automakers can turn on and deploy depending on their needs.

About BlackBerry Ltd.

BlackBerry provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500 million end points, including 215 million vehicles.