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BlackBerry Joins CISA’s Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative to Help Bolster U.S. Cybersecurity

CYBERSECURITY / 04.04.22 / John Chen

Consistent with BlackBerry’s commitment to public-private collaboration to bolster national security, I’m proud to announce that we have become a member of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the nation’s cyber defense agency.

BlackBerry’s prevention-first, AI-driven approach to cybersecurity aligns with President Biden’s Cybersecurity Executive Order (May 2021), the White House’s recent Cybersecurity Fact Sheet (March 21, 2022), and the JCDC’s work to develop measures that proactively improve the nation’s ability to reduce the risk and impact of cyberattacks. The JCDC brings together partners—including federal and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments with the private sector—to unify defensive actions and drive down risk in advance of potential cyber incidents.

BlackBerry will lend our diverse and unique capabilities and expertise to this critical, integrated effort to strengthen America’s cybersecurity defenses through collaborative planning, preparation, and information sharing.

Facing the Challenge Together

In today’s highly digitized world, America’s critical infrastructure and National Critical Functions – including transportation, telecommunications, healthcare, energy, financial services, food and water supply, and much more – have never been at greater risk of cyberattacks. This is why collective, collaborative, public-private partnerships like JCDC are so important, and why BlackBerry prioritizes lending our talent to such initiatives.

In this role, BlackBerry brings our multi-sector expertise in end-to-end AI-driven cybersecurity and the Internet of Things – along with a long track-record of building safety-certified and secure embedded systems for mission-critical settings. Together with CISA and our JCDC partners, we will work to protect U.S. critical infrastructure, government agencies, supply chains, businesses, and the American people.

JCDC’s mission is to “lead collaborative, public and private sector cyber defense planning, cybersecurity information fusion and analysis, and the purposeful dissemination of cyber defense guidance to reduce cyber risks to our national critical functions.” This important mission dovetails with BlackBerry’s mission: To bring about positive change and support innovation by providing “intelligent security everywhere.

We welcome this collaborative opportunity, as a member of JCDC, to strengthen the security of the public and private enterprises and industries that drive America’s economy, society, and competitiveness.

John Chen

About John Chen

John Chen is Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of BlackBerry. Appointed in November 2013, John led BlackBerry’s turnaround stabilizing the company’s financial position, ensuring its viability, and pivoting its operations from consumer hardware to enterprise software. Today the company takes advantage of the current growth opportunities in IoT and Cybersecurity and is pioneering the convergence of these two markets.

John is a distinguished business leader and proven turnaround executive with over 40 years of engineering and management experience. Prior to joining BlackBerry, John served as Chairman and CEO of Sybase Inc. where he re-invented the company and achieved 55 consecutive quarters of profitability during his 15-year tenure.

Recognized as a thought leader and as a respected voice in foreign policy, John has testified before Congress on U.S.–China trade relations and was appointed by U.S. President George W. Bush to serve on the President's Export Council. In 2006, he was appointed co-chair of the Secure Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee. Additionally, John chaired the U.S.-China Policy Advisory Roundtable for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), served on the Board of the National Committee on U.S. China Relations since 2012, and has been a member of the Committee of 100 since 1997 and its Chairman from 2009-2011.

John graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). John has an honorary professorship from Shanghai University, and honorary doctorates from San Jose State University, City University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. John has received awards from the U.S.-Asia Institute, the U.S.-China Policy Foundation, the California-Asia Business Council, and the U.S.-Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation.

John served on the Board of Directors for The Walt Disney Company (2004-2019) and Wells Fargo & Co. (2006-2018) and as a trustee of Caltech (2008-2022). John is an Advisory Board member of the US Chamber China Center. He is also active in the not-for-profit community, and is a board member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, member of CFR, national trustee of The First Tee and Governor of the San Francisco Symphony.