BlackBerry Ltd. reported in a press release that it has acquired Secusmart GmbH, subject to customary conditions such as regulatory approvals. The price and terms of the acquisition was not disclosed.
Secusmart is a Germany-based company that specializes in high-security encryption for voice and data, along with anti-eavesdropping solutions for organizations, companies and telecommunications service providers. Their clients include companies from all over the world.
"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 Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen in a statement.
Chen added that BlackBerry's acquisition of Secusmart shows the company's focus on solving the security problems being faced by both individuals and governments. The technology that BlackBerry will gain, according to Chen, will further establish BlackBerry's status as a leader in security solution for mobile applications.
Chen also discussed the acquisition in a company-sponsored summit held in New York, saying that Secusmart will be the "cornerstone of our security offering."
BlackBerry and Secusmart have cooperated in the past, with BlackBerry offering Secusmart offerings to its customers. One of the partnerships of the companies, the SecuSUITE for the BlackBerry 10, was last year picked by the Federal Office for Information Security of Germany to safeguard communications between the top public officials of the country.
BlackBerry and Secusmart provided BlackBerry smartphones equipped with Secusmart technology to several government agencies and ministries in Germany, along with leaders such as Chancellor Angela Merkel.
According to Secusmart Managing Director Dr. Hans-Christoph Quelle, BlackBerry's acquisition of Secusmart presents a great opportunity to introduce the security solutions that the two companies are offering and trusted for in Germany to the rest of BlackBerry's corporate and government clients in the world.
BlackBerry's acquisition of Secusmart will also drive forward market growth for top-of-the-line security solutions in communications, to combat the increasing risk of electronic espionage and data theft. BlackBerry is the current leader in the said market, with clients that include all G7 national governments, 16 out of the G20 national governments, all 10 of the biggest worldwide companies in the automotive, legal and pharmaceutical industries, and all five of the biggest gas and oil enterprises.
BlackBerry also has the most security certifications compared to any other mobile solutions company, being the only vendor to be granted the approval for "Full Operational Capability" to be operated within the networks of the Department of Defense of the United States.
