In an effort to further improve its voice and data security, Blackberry announced that that it will acquire Secusmart, a Dusseldorf, Germany-based company that specializes in encryption and anti-eavesdropping services. Financial details were not disclosed and the deal is still pending regulatory approval.
"We are always improving our security solutions to keep up with the growing complexity of enterprise mobility, with devices being used for more critical tasks and to store more critical information, and security attacks becoming more sophisticated", said BlackBerry CEO John Chen, who announced the deal at the company's BlackBerry Summit in New York City yesterday.
Central to Secusmart's technology is the Secusmart Security Card, which is essentially a mini-computer integrated into the micro-SD card, containing the NXP SmartMX P5CT072 crypto-controller with a PKI coprocessor for authentication, as well as a high-speed coprocessor that encrypts voice and data communication using 128 bit AES.
Both the companies have been partners since 2009. For Blackberry, which is focusing heavily on regulated industries such as government, finance, energy and healthcare, the move seems logical, as Secusmart's technology is being used to protect the devices of government officials in both Canada and Germany.
The security firm also recently launched an anti-eavesdropping solution, something that'll likely appeal to Blackberry's clients in wake of Snowden's NSA revelations.
“We see significant opportunities to introduce Secusmart’s solutions to more of BlackBerry’s government and enterprise customers around the world”, said Dr. Hans-Christoph Quelle, managing director of Secusmart. The company will operate independently and remain based in Germany.
The news comes just a month after Blackphone, a security and privacy-focused smartphone, started shipping to pre-order customers. Interestingly, Blackberry had called Blackphone a "consumer-grade" equipment that is "inadequate" for businesses.
