数据销毁大战催生新商机

    Silent Circle是一个用来加密通话的应用软件。它靠人们的臆想赚钱，比如害怕政府可能与大型科技公司合作建立巨大的监视机制，而且多年来一直对公众隐瞒实情。

    所以自然而然，当新闻披露美国政府的确在收集大量美国人的通话和邮件数据后，Silent Circle发现这是一个绝佳的机会。这家公司称，关于美国国家安全局（National Security Agency）数据收集活动的报道推动他们的销量在过去一周内飙升了480%。

    Silent Circle并不是唯一一家因人们日益关注隐私问题而盈利的公司。“棱镜门”事件爆发前，像Snapchat，以及更小范围内的Facebook的Poke等应用，已经新增了大批用户，他们都想消除上网痕迹。更加认真的客户可以选择Wickr，它能让用户创建含自毁功能的信息和相片。公司CEO尼科•赛尔称，“棱镜门”发生后，这款应用的下载量在北美增加了156%，全球增加了116%。Immunity的高级安全研究员马克•沃格乐在美国有线电视新闻网财经频道（CNN Money）的一次采访中说：“如果国家安全局继续进行这种监控，将会催生一个全新的手机加密软件市场。这是应用开发商所能期待的最好的市场营销。”

    然而，晨星公司（Morningstar）分析师格雷迪•伯克特提醒道，消费者的兴趣未必会长久。他说：“我不认为这会成为大型新产业的契机。没错，你的下载量可能会飙升，短期内能挣到一些钱，但我不觉得它会在长期内带来巨大收入。”当然，这取决于国家安全局的新闻需要多久才能淡出公众视线。如果政府窃听和收集商业数据的新消息持续占据头条，短期内公众对安全的担忧就不太可能消退。

    Silent Circle有约60名员工设计产品，让用户可以通过加密网络进行无法跟踪的通话，这类产品还可以发送加密短信和电子邮件。使用一个名为Burn Notice的功能，用户还可以设定文件自毁的时间。尽管这个功能让人想起Snapchat，这家公司却表示，两者没有可比性。Silent Circle起源于军方，并不希望成为一个社交网络。它不知道用户的名字，不储存用户的信息，大多数情况下都用于提供视频会议和传送大型文件服务。

    Silent Circle有70%的客户都来自商界和政府。其中包括15家财富50强公司和全球8家情报机构。它还与奢侈手机制造商Vertu合作，发布了售价10,000美元的超安全手机。

    Silent Circle, an app that allows users to place encrypted phone calls, makes money on paranoia. Paranoia like, say, the fear that the government might build a massive surveillance operation in cooperation with major tech companies and then keep it secret from the public for years.

    So naturally, after news broke that the government really was gathering large amounts of data on Americans' phone calls and e-mails, Silent Circle found itself in a sweet spot. The company says reports of the National Security Agency's data-gathering activities drove a huge increase in sales -- up 480% in the last seven days.

    Silent Circle isn't the only company that's making money off increased privacy concerns. Pre-NSA news, apps like Snapchat, and to a lesser extent Facebook's (FB) Poke, had already seen big growth from users who want to cover their tracks online. For the more serious consumer, there'sWickr, which allows users to create self-destructing messages and photos. The company saw downloads increase 156% in North America and 116% internationally since the story broke, said CEO Nico Sell. "If the NSA pushes this, then it will create a whole new market for encryption software on phones," security researcher Mark Wuergler, senior security researcher of Immunity said in an interview with CNN Money. "This is the best marketing these app developers could have hoped for."

    Morningstar (MORN) analyst Grady Burkett cautions that consumers' interest may be short-lived, though. "I don't think this is going to create some kind of big launch pad," Burkett said. "Yeah, you might get an uptick in downloads and create some money in the near term, but I wouldn't think in the long-term this is going to create a huge spike in revenue." Of course, that will depend on how quickly the NSA story fades from the spotlight. If new tales of government wiretapping and commercial data-gathering continue to make headlines, it seems unlikely security worries will ebb in the near future.

    At Silent Circle, about 60 employees engineer products that allow users to make virtually untraceable calls over an encrypted network, as well as send encrypted text messages and e-mails. With a feature called Burn Notice, users can also set a specific amount of time until a file self-destructs. Though that function calls Snapchat to mind, the company says there's no comparison. Silent Circle, with its roots in the military, has no ambition at becoming a social network. It doesn't know your name, won't store your details, and derives much of its usage from services like videoconference and transferring large files.

    About 70% of Silent Circle's users are business or government customers. That includes 15 Fortune 50 companies, plus eight intelligence agencies throughout the world. It has also partnered with luxury phone maker Vertu to put out a $10,000 hyper-secure phone.