When BlackBerry was asked for comment, a spokesperson said, “We continue to support and service our Cylance customers as we always have.”

Asked if CISOs should be worried about the vagueness of the plans for Cylance, Montenegro replied “I’m not sure ‘worried’ is the right term, but it’s definitely something to discuss, particularly if you are considering whether or not to adopt managed services.”

Montenegro gives BlackBerry credit for aiming Cylance at the mid-market customers through the MDR solution. “If they can execute on that MDR strategy, all the AI stuff they can do may be able to give them [BlackBerry] something,” he told CSO Online this week. “But they are choosing to [mainly] compete on MDR,” he noted, “and not directly on endpoint stuff.”