BlackBerry to buy anti-spy tool used by Angela Merkel

BlackBerry Ltd, pushing further into security services, has agreed to buy Secusmart GmbH, a provider of anti-eavesdropping technology whose clients include German officials such as Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Secusmart, a Düsseldorf, Germany-based company that already had a partnership with BlackBerry, makes voice and data encryption for mobile phones. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

The acquisition is BlackBerry’s first since the hiring last November of chief executive John Chen, who vowed to cut losses by focusing on services to corporations and governments. Now, having stabilised the Waterloo, Ontario-based company, Chen said in an interview yesterday that he was laying the groundwork for hiring and sales growth. With Secusmart, BlackBerry aims to capitalise on demand for spy-proofing technology in the wake of revelations about US government surveillance tactics, including allegations that Merkel’s mobile phone was tapped.