Spying Revelations Lead to German Encryption Boom

Revelations about the National Security Agency's electronic eavesdropping capabilities have sparked anger in Germany and a boom in encryption services that make it hard for the most sophisticated spies to read emails, listen to calls or comb through texts.

Jon Callas, co-founder of Silent Circle, which sells an encryption app allowing users to talk and text in private, said a series of disclosures from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden last year have been a boon for business.

Silent Circle is one of a host of online security companies cashing in on swarms of new security-conscious customers around the world who want to shield their communications from foreign governments and nowhere is the market hotter than in Germany, whose chancellor, Angela Merkel, was reported to be a target.

"Germans have always been particularly attuned to security and privacy concerns," Callas said. "I think that culturally, Germany has seen privacy problems in their recent past. There are people who remember the communists. There is still a cultural sore spot over security and privacy, an understanding of what can go wrong better than any other place in the world."

The companies' customers range from diplomats and journalists to privacy advocates and people trying to protect trade secrets.

"If you're a reporter, you can talk confidentially to a source. If you're a banker, you can talk to a client. If you're a business person, you can use it in places where spying is a cultural norm," Callas said.

Although Silent Circle doesn't provide specific numbers, Callas said it saw a "huge increase" in subscriptions to its private phone and text service after Snowden's disclosures and a spike in Germany after two reported cases of suspected U.S. spying there earlier this year.

And while the technology has Silicon Valley roots, the servers are in Canada and Switzerland, two countries with strong privacy protections. Two weeks ago, Silent Circle also began selling a secure smartphone, whose first run sold out, Callas said.

At CeBIT, a leading tech industry event held annually in the German city of Hannover, Deutsche Telekom was among several companies to launch new security products on the back of Snowden's revelations.

"I want to send a personal thanks to the NSA, because we wouldn't be having this discussing if that hadn't happened," Reinhard Clemens, a Deutsche Telekom board member, told reporters. "That was the best marketing campaign we've ever had."

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Spying Revelations Lead to German Encryption Boom