Global mobile communications services provider BlackBerry has announced the formation of the BlackBerry Center for High Assurance Computing (CHACE) and the launch of a new managed PKI certificate service as part of its bid to enhance its position within cybersecurity.

In a release to the media the mobile company explained that CHACE was established to expand its research and development to drive innovation and improve computer security.

"As the number of connected devices multiplies, so do the threats to security and privacy," said Bob Egan, CEO, Sepharim Research Group. "Organisations need to rethink the way they approach security and transition from a reactive posture to one that is proactive and promises the greatest defence against sophisticated cyber attackers."

The initiative is expected to 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."

At the same time BlackBerry has also launched a new PKI certificate service in which its subsidiary Certicom will help device manufacturers and service providers secure IoT (Internet of Things), networks and ecosystems.

Statistics relevant to the brand's adoption in Africa is not readily available. However, according to The Mobile Africa 2015 study, brought out by GeoPoll and World Wide Worx (which surveyed 3 500 mobile phone users across SA, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda) BlackBerry's market share is expected to rise from 6% to 16%.