BlackBerry acquires mobile security firm SecuSmart, an anti-eavesdropping provider
BlackBerry acquires Secusmart, ups voice security ante — Summary: BlackBerry's acquisition of German software firm Secusmart is aimed at securing voice and data and putting better mobile security in every president and chancellor's hand.
Context & Ripple Effects
BlackBerry entered July 2014 with a security-led enterprise product in market: BBM Protected messaging had begun rolling out in June with FIPS 140-2 encryption. Its BlackBerry 10.3 plans also added a virtual assistant, while the Passport was positioned around spreadsheet viewing—evidence of a company trying to differentiate its devices and software around business use.
Bringing Secusmart into the company extends that security emphasis from messaging toward protected voice and data communications, including the government-oriented use described in the announcement. The deal makes security capability a more central part of BlackBerry’s enterprise proposition rather than a feature confined to BBM.
First-order effects
- BlackBerry gains Secusmart’s anti-eavesdropping technology, broadening its secure communications portfolio beyond the BBM Protected enterprise messaging product.
- Secusmart’s voice and data security offering moves under BlackBerry, aligning it with BlackBerry’s device, operating-system and enterprise software efforts.
Second-order effects
- Government and enterprise buyers seeking protected mobile communications can assess BlackBerry as a supplier across messaging, voice and data rather than as a messaging-only security provider.
- BlackBerry’s enterprise rivals face a more integrated security pitch from a vendor that is pairing mobile hardware and software with acquired communications-security capability.
Third-order effects
- The acquisition points toward enterprise mobility competition being decided less by handset features alone and more by ownership of the security layers that protect business and government communications.
- If BlackBerry continues to build around secure communications, capability acquisitions become a route for mobile vendors to assemble differentiated enterprise platforms rather than develop every security component internally.
The trend: Mobile vendors are using security capabilities to reposition enterprise offerings around trusted communications rather than consumer-device differentiation.