Security in the digital age has become a hot topic, and one German company is offering to thwart surveillance at the same levels as Germany's chancellor.

Secusmart GmbH, a company that has helped provide encrypted calls for the purpose to evade eavesdroppers, has sold thousands of secure smartphones to government officials. One government official is Germany's Angela Merkel. According to Bloomberg, the revelations of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and similar agencies monitoring mobile conversations, including Chancellor Merkel's, have resulted in consumers and companies wanting to protect themselves. The German company has introduced four devices for the public aimed to block people from monitoring other people's smartphones.

"Voice encryption used to be a niche that only intelligence services were interested in," said Secusmart Chief Executive Officer Hans-Christoph Quelle, via Bloomberg. "That niche is widening now. We want to look at private customers, but we definitely have to go after companies this year."

Secusmart GmbH forecasts regular consumers to pay approximately $2,700, or 2,000 euros, for the secure smartphones.

For Secusmart GmbH, its technology has been designed to cooperate with several models by BlackBerry, including the BlackBerry Z10 model owned by Merkel.

"Its key component is a microSD card, a chip smaller than a postage stamp that fits a slot found on many phones. That card acts as a separate hard drive for confidential information that can't be accessed by attackers who infiltrate the operating system," reported Bloomberg's Cornelius Rahn and Marie Mawad. "The company last year shipped more than 2,000 BlackBerrys with its chip to German authorities, including Chancellor Merkel, and it supplies governments in northern Europe, South America and the Middle East."

Secusmart GmbH now plans to display its products to consumers outside of government-based jobs at the CeBIT technology fair in Hanover, Germany. The Dusseldorf-based company plans to expand its technology into Google Android and Apple iOS devices, but a date has not been set.

The CeBIT fair will be home to displaying secure smartphones. Germany's largest phone company, Deutsche Telekom AG, reportedly plans to showcase a secure-call application for companies. The application was part of a collaboration with Berlin-based cryptophone maker GSMK. The application's reported introduction comes after SGP Technologies, a joint venture by Spain's Geeksphone SL and Silent Circle LLC, revealed the Blackphone.

The Blackphone, touted as the word's first smartphone that places control and privacy directly in the hands of its users, is available for pre-orders for $629.

"We wanted to deliver not just the best privacy, but the best total package," said SGP Technologies' Managing Director Toby Weir-Jones. "Blackphone offers unprecedented value in a turnkey secure communications platform, and it's easy enough to use that anyone who's used a smartphone before will feel right at home as soon as they turn it on."

The security of BlackBerry devices has been a reason U.S. officials still utilize the Canada-based company's devices. President Barack Obama has made it public knowledge he does not own an iPhone due to security concerns. He owns a BlackBerry.

Obama's ownership of his BlackBerry was not easy. He has stated he fought against Secret Service to keep his BlackBerry. A special version of the smartphone was created for him including strong security encryption. The reason for the Secret Service's concern was the potential threats by hackers, thus revealing his locations and stored data.

Obama's daughters, however, are iPhone owners. It is unknown if special measures were taken to protect Malia and Sasha Obama's devices.

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