BlackBerry announced on Tuesday plans to acquire data security firm WatchDox for $70 million. The move looks to bolster BlackBerry's software security for businesses by offering secure file transfer services.

Half of WatchDox is located in Palo Alto, California while the research and development team is situated in Petah Tikva, Israel. BlackBerry hasn't disclosed what it intends to do with the Israeli research team.

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WatchDox has a large portfolio of clients including Hollywood studios, insurance firms and everything in-between and offers a storage client that is safe and secure. It allows network administrators to yield greater authority over who has the ability to move, edit or delete documents, ensuring no files go missing or are copied to a remote location.

Considering the recent Sony Pictures theft -- resulting in several executives losing their jobs and the U.S. government tightening controls -- business security has become all the more important.

BlackBerry will work with WatchDox to import some of the tools into its own portfolio and strengthening the security suite of products and services for businesses. BlackBerry has already invested heavily in encryption, messaging and management, WatchDox now brings a secure portal for business to work on.

BlackBerry chief executive John Chen has hinted at more of these small acquisitions for business and security startups coming in the near future. It acquired a voice and data encryption startup Secusmart last year. Secusmart recently launched a custom Galaxy Tab tablet with new security encryption on board for businesses.

BlackBerry also acquired British cellphone startup Movirtu late last year whose services allow businesses and customers to set up two phone numbers on a single SIM card with one mobile device. It will look to implement this technology for businesses in the near future.

The move to business is a smart way for BlackBerry to hide the fact it's still doing extremely poorly in the consumer world. Apart from BBM, none of its consumer products or services are doing well and Chen is looking for a big push into the enterprise market this year.

BlackBerry might start facing difficulties in the mobile market for enterprise, government and military with Google, Samsung and Apple both working on business technologies like encryption and security running on customized iPhones and Android devices.

TagsBlackberry, WatchDox, Data Security, enterprise security