Jeff Ait, formerly public sector director of Good Technology, has joined BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) as vice president and head of the U.S. public sector.
Ait told BlackBerry Business Blog on Tuesday that he would pursue business opportunities with the Defense Department after the Pentagon issued full operational capability for BlackBerry to operate its BlackBerry 10 platform on defense networks.
The 30-year technology industry veteran also said he would focus on civilian agencies, as well as state and local government.
Ait told BlackBerry Business Blog’s Ali Rehman that governments are facing a challenge of protecting their data on mobile devices amid growing threats such as source code leaks, malware and ransomware.
BlackBerry is set to launch the BBM Protected product within the eBBM suite to help government clients secure their enterprise-class messaging applications, he said.
“And once our agreement to acquire Secusmart is complete, it will further enhance our anti-eavesdropping capabilities on voice and data communications, †Ait added.
