While the original Blackphone was marketed at prosumers, and they remain a secondary target, Agüera said the big growth opportunity for Blackphone's pro-privacy hardware and software is in the enterprise space, driven by the consumerization of enterprise IT and the BYOD (bring your own device) trend.
But there are other assets to protect, such as the patients' right to privacy; the hardware and software of the system itself; sensitive information in the system; other healthcare systems and their information, which could be affected from this system; and trust in, and the reputation of, the services and the service provider.
It's an extra layer of protection that encrypts your online activity and should be used in addition to password managers, browser plug-ins that support privacy and encrypted hardware.
Differentiating mobile hardware on privacy and security grounds is something other startups are doing, such as Silent Circle's Blackphone initiative.
Beyond that, there aren't any new privacy features baked into the hardware.
The system requires no dedicated television-connected hardware, protects users' privacy and is technically feasible, the researchers report.
A team of top security researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and MIT have come together to launch a new cryptographic project that combines secure software and hardware to enable privacy-preserving smart contracts under the banner of Oasis Labs.
More details of the NSA's access to phones and networking hardware have been released by privacy campaigners.
However, this year there is greater attention being paid to other issues of the day too, like privacy and surveillance, as well as on hardware like 3D printing and wearable technology.
Having intentionally stripped back the hardware of GlassUp to remove privacy concerns its creators have also shrunk the cost.
These range from the environmental sustainability of data centers, to conflict minerals in your hardware, to human rights and privacy protections.
