BlackBerry has announced the next version of the BlackBerry Spark Platform. The next generation of the platform includes a new Unified Endpoint Security (UES) layer which should work with any Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) system.
BlackBerry’s goal is to achieve a ‘One Agent, One Console, One Crowd, One Cloud’ approach. This means that everything needs to be centralised, rather than using a plurality of applications and/or locations. By using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and automation, Spark users should be able to improve threat prevention and recovery. Also, all endpoints, including desktops, mobile endpoints, servers and IoT (e.g. automotive endpoints) will become more easily visible to users.
Centralisation
According to BlackBerry, companies today face more chaos as cyber threats become more sophisticated and frequent, while at the same time the attack surface grows larger. In addition, the amount of data shared between endpoints and between users is also growing. BlackBerry Spark tries to keep things clear by using one agent for all endpoints, and one console for all administrators. Threat data from endpoints is combined in a central repository and managed in a central cloud environment. In short, there should be less chaos, because everything is controlled centrally.
Zero Trust
The new platform should enable a Zero Trust security environment. The different components of the platform work together, but access must always be ‘earned’ through authentication. “BlackBerry Spark continuously authenticates users to deliver a Zero Touch experience that enhances security without interrupting users. This way, trust is achieved across all devices, networks, data, users and apps,” said Billy Ho, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Products at BlackBerry.
Businesses can use any UEM product with the new version of Spark. Think of e.g. BlackBerry, Microsoft Intune, VMWare Workspace or MobileIron, which can connect to the UES via an API. With this, companies are able to keep profiting from their existing investments in infrastructure.