A Blackberry sign is seen in front of their offices on the day of their annual general meeting for shareholders in Waterloo, Canada in this June 23, 2015.

:: Canada-based BlackBerry on Wednesday introduced new cyber security consulting services aimed at enabling enterprise ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR) compliance and mitigating security risks in connected automobiles that threaten personal and public safety.

‘BlackBerry Cybersecurity Consulting’ will guide organisations through the process of understanding how to manage company data, how GDPR applies to the organisation and how to achieve a competitive readiness posture, the company said in a statement.

Set to come into effect in May 2018 and applicable to any enterprise controlling or processing ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) of European Union residents, GDPR demands major changes to the ways organisations may collect, use and store PII about customers and employees.

“Having been engaged with the EU Justice Directorate-General since 2012, we understand the GDPR requirements and have developed expertise to help address the full range of GDPR implications for enterprises, from situational assessment to offering DPO (Data Protection Officer)-as-a-service,” said Carl Wiese, Global Head of Sales, BlackBerry at BlackBerry Security Summit in London.

“In addition to consulting services, we provide many necessary software solutions, making BlackBerry a one-stop shop for GDPR compliance,” Wiese added.

According to Automotive Cybersecurity and Connected Car Report from IHS Automotive, there are nearly 112 million vehicles now connected around the world. The global market for automotive cybersecurity is expected to grow to $759 million in 2023.

BlackBerry will now also offer new services directly and through a new partner programme aimed at helping to eliminate security vulnerabilities within connected and autonomous vehicles.

“BlackBerry’s cybersecurity consulting practice builds on decades of experience in information security, data protection and cyber-resilience to support our clients in protecting their most valuable assets,” Weise said.

“As hacking evolves and new threats arise, our new cybersecurity consulting services will help play a critical role in the development of secure connected and autonomous vehicles.”