Shares of BlackBerry Ltd shot up on Monday following news that the U.S. Defense Department will use the company’s smartphones in one of its new networks.

Shares of BlackBerry Ltd closed 6.07% to $9.08 per share on Monday on twice its normal daily trading volume.

The Pentagon gave BlackBerry  the authority to operate two smartphone models and a mobile device management solution on its network late last year, making the mobile device management provider the first to achieve this feat.

BlackBerry's Z10 and Q10 smartphones and the Enterprise Service 10, are the smartphones and mobile device management solution respectively to be given the authority to operate on the U.S Department of Defense networks.

This means that BlackBerry 10 smartphones will enable the U.S Department of Defense personnel to have the ability to securely connect to networks and access data from work.

“Being the first smartphones to be supported on U.S. Department of Defense networks further establishes BlackBerry’s proven and validated security model,” said Scott Totzke, Senior Vice President at BlackBerry Security Group.

 “With foreign entities – governmental and criminal – ramping up attacks on electronic communications and information systems, BlackBerry provides government agencies with a proven partner that follows top-to-bottom security protocols,” he added.

Experts believe the approval demonstrates that BlackBerry 10 smartphones meet Pentagon's most stringent security requirements.

BlackBerry explains on its website that its mobile infrastructure provides a highly responsive, intelligent and intuitive mobile computing experience while ensuring the personal and the corporate information on a user’s phone are kept separate and safe.

The Pentagon, charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S government concerned with national security and the Armed Forces, is  the largest employer in the world, with more than 2.13 million personnel.