Germany has given the green light to BlackBerry’s purchase of Secusmart, a data encryption technology maker, after the Canadian company maker agreed to the German Government’s "no-spy clause".
Secusmart technology secures the mobile devices of top politicians such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The device features a Secusmart micro SD, which acts as a separate hard drive used for storing confidential information which cannot be accessed by hackers.
Reuters cited German media reports claiming that Germany insisted that the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) guarantee control and access rights to codes used in Blackberry OS.
Blackberry has agreed to the terms set by the German Government, which include the provision of the OS source code and reporting to the BSI in case of security issues.
The takeover of Secusmart by Blackberry raised concerns of national security, as it was reported by Der Spiegel that Merkel’s phone was being tapped by US intelligence agencies. Following this incident, Merkel moved to an encrypted device.
According to Ars Technica, around 2,500 BlackBerry devices with Secusmart encryption software are used by German officials.
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