BlackBerry announced Tuesday that it will buy German company Secusmart as a way to improve its mobile security offerings for business and government customers.
Dusseldorf-based Secusmart provides customers in Germany and Canada with encryption technology used to prevent eavesdropping on calls, according to The Wall Street Journal. The telecommunications company already uses the technology for its BlackBerry 10 phones. The cost of the purchase has not been disclosed.
"This is a high value-added technology that I could charge for ... and [it] creates that much more distance between me and competitors," John Chen, chief executive of BlackBerry, said in an interview.
Governments and companies are depending more on digital communications, which increases the chances of cyberattacks on the technology. A security breach was reported Tuesday by the Canadian government on one of its agencies' IT systems. Further details about the breach were not revealed.
BlackBerry also provided phones equipped with Secusmart technology to German government agencies and almost every German government ministry and leader last year, which included Chancellor Angela Merkel, MarketWatch reported.
Secusmart Managing Director Hans-Christoph Quelle said the acquisition is a great opportunity to increase market growth for secure communications solutions, adding the importance of fighting eavesdropping on electronic devices and data theft.
"Secusmart and BlackBerry's solution already meets the highest security requirements of the German federal authorities and NATO for restricted communications. We see significant opportunities to introduce Secusmart's solutions to more of BlackBerry's government and enterprise customers around the world."
The deal will put BlackBerry in competition with Samsung, Apple, and other companies that have been developing mobile communications for government agencies and businesses, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Chen believes his company's experience in software security will enable BlackBerry to beat its rivals in forming partnerships with governments, financial companies, healthcare institutions, and other organizations. He added that while Secusmart has been working with BlackBerry since 2009, Tuesday's announcement gives BlackBerry the chance to completely reap the rewards from Secusmart's success.
