BlackBerry recently introduced the BlackBerry Center for High Assurance Computing Excellence (CHACE). The initiative expands the Company’s research and development efforts to drive worldwide innovation and improvement in computer security.
“As the number of connected devices multiplies, so do the threats to security and privacy,” said Bob Egan, CEO, Sepharim Research Group. “Organizations need to rethink the way they approach security and transition from a reactive posture to one that is proactive and promises the greatest defense against sophisticated cyber attackers.”
The fail-then-patch approach to managing security risk has become a widely accepted practice, even as consumers and enterprises face mounting threats from cyber attackers. CHACE aims to reverse the current paradigm with the development of tools and techniques that deliver a higher level of security protection than is currently available.
CHACE will extend BlackBerry’s competencies in vulnerability prevention and enable the application of high assurance security research to real-world products and services.
“There’s a belief that the key to the world’s security issues is to patch faster, but this hamster wheel fails to address the root issue,” said David Kleidermacher, Chief Security Officer, BlackBerry. “Systems that require regular patching always contain vulnerabilities unknown to developers, and some of these vulnerabilities are in fact known by would-be attackers. It’s clear we must build systems that are provably devoid of security flaws. The software and security engineering required to meet this objective is sadly rare today and must become commonplace. CHACE is BlackBerry’s initiative towards this goal, and we welcome all who wish to join the fight.”
A number of leading organizations have already expressed support for CHACE.
“Next-generation mHealth systems and Internet of Things devices, such as the artificial pancreas for people with diabetes, can dramatically improve quality of life. However, these wireless devices are inhibited from realizing their full potential by an insufficient assurance of security and privacy afforded by current commercial development practices,” said David Klonoff, M.D., President, Diabetes Technology Society and Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. “BlackBerry is assisting Diabetes Technology Society to foster the high assurance security processes and standards needed to turn promise into reality for patients with diabetes and other diseases.”
For more on CHACE, visit www.BlackBerry.com/CHACE.
