Malaysia deployed BlackBerry solutions in securing communications and protecting people during the ASEAN Summit events in 2025. These included the 46th ASEAN Summit held in May, and the 47th ASEAN Summit in October.
The ASEAN Summits are among the region’s most complex diplomatic events, involving more than 500 meetings and thousands of personnel across multiple government agencies.
Coordinated by Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the ASEAN Main Logistics Secretariat (SILA), the Summits bring together heads of state, ministers, and officials from ASEAN member countries and key partners across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Following a successful deployment at the 46th Summit, SILA expanded its use of BlackBerry’s secure communications platform to protect command and control operations, both within the Summit’s operations center and on the move.
As advanced signal intelligence capabilities become increasingly available to malicious actors, safeguarding mobile communications has never been more critical.
BlackBerry AtHoc, a critical event management platform, combines secure emergency notifications with incident response tools to enable real-time mobile coordination across agencies.
BlackBerry SecuSUITE, a NATO-certified, military-grade secure voice and messaging solution, protects sensitive conversations from interception and espionage targeting mobile communications.
Raja Saifful Ridzuwan, head of SILA, said that around 80% of their inter-agency communications were secured – and some were highly confidential and directly tied to the safety of heads of state and officials.
“With BlackBerry, we found an encrypted, open communications platform that protects sensitive information while improving coordination,” he said.
John Giamatteo, CEO of BlackBerry, added: “As ASEAN Chair in 2025, Malaysia is setting a new standard for sovereign secure communications at scale.
During the 46th Summit, 100 liaison officers (LOs) used BlackBerry AtHoc to send secure, location-based alerts and manage coordination. The 47th Summit expanded to 150 LOs, all equipped with AtHoc and SecuSUITE on iOS and standard Android devices.
This flexibility enables LOs to securely communicate with visiting delegations and foreign teams, reducing the number of devices needed while maintaining end-to-end encrypted voice and secure messaging from anywhere.
BlackBerry AtHoc also enables mobile command-and-control, helping officials monitor movements, respond swiftly to weather or security incidents, and coordinate seamlessly across agencies such as the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) using validated, secure information.
“Five minutes can mean 50 missed messages,” Raja Saifful added. “BlackBerry AtHoc streamlines how we communicate across agencies, while SecuSUITE encrypts voice instructions to prevent eavesdropping and leaks.
