BlackBerry warns of cybersecurity threats

PETALING JAYA: Governments can no longer assume their communications are secure, and 2027 will be the year that becomes clear, says BlackBerry vice-president and chief security adviser Christine Gadsby.

Speaking to Malaysian journalists at a luncheon last week, she said agentic and frontier AI, intensifying global conflict and extreme weather are converging.

Together they are reshaping how governments, defence agencies and critical industries protect sensitive communications. Her remarks follow Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Nov 3 warning that Malaysians should not treat global cyber threats as distant, given Malaysia’s growing profile as a regional digital and data centre hub.

Gadsby said the question for governments is shifting from where data is stored to who controls the networks, encryption keys and infrastructure carrying it, and whether access could be revoked or systems switched off.

She said data residency alone will no longer satisfy national security requirements. Operators of National Critical Information Infrastructure will face closer scrutiny as sophisticated threat actors target telecommunications and other essential services.

Malaysia, she said, is better placed than most. Since 2023, it has moved towards sovereign control of government communications through its Government Secured Communications programme.

This is backed by the RM2bil Sovereign AI Cloud, the Cyber Security Act 2024 and the Malaysia Cyber Security Strategy 2025-2030.

Identity, however, is becoming the new front line. As AI-generated voices and videos become indistinguishable from the real thing, criminals and foreign actors are expected to impersonate trusted officials and business leaders with growing success.

The Communications Ministry told Parliament that 713 deepfake or manipulated-image items involving political party leaders were taken down between January 2025 and mid-September 2026.

Bank Negara Malaysia has also warned of deepfake advertisements impersonating its governor.

“Recognising a face or voice will no longer be enough to prove who someone is,” Gadsby said, in remarks consistent with BlackBerry’s 2027 outlook.

A deepfake can mimic appearance and speech, but not a cryptographic key, which is what BlackBerry builds into secure calls and messages. This matters most in a crisis, when officials must be certain an instruction is genuine. That, she said, will push government agencies and regulated industries such as banking and telecommunications to rethink consumer messaging apps.

A wave of 2026 espionage campaigns has targeted officials, military personnel and journalists on Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram. A BlackBerry global survey in 2026 found 98% of security leaders still use consumer platforms on foreign-owned infrastructure for sensitive communications.

Encryption, she cautioned, does not stop the wrong person from joining a chat, nor does it help if a foreign-hosted service is suspended or restricted.

The risks extend beyond screens. As AI moves into robots, autonomous vehicles and critical infrastructure in manufacturing, energy and transport, securing how machines communicate will matter as much as securing how they think.

Operators will need to authenticate commands and keep humans in control when systems fail or are compromised.

Weather will add to the strain. The Meteorological Department expects the Northeast Monsoon, which began on Oct 27, to bring three to five spells of prolonged heavy rain between November and January. The East Coast states and eastern Johor face the highest flood risk. A Super El Nino could then bring heatwaves and drought from late January to March 2027.

Gadsby said agencies will need satellite connectivity, crisis tools and cross-agency interoperability to coordinate when power and mobile networks fail. “Better forecasts will not guarantee better crisis response,” she said, adding that national resilience will depend on whether a government can trust the information it receives.