Samsung Electronics has another target in its ever-growing sights: the BlackBerry. Until recently, Samsung has marketed its smartphones very successfully to consumers worldwide, but never to businesses. That’s been changing over the past year, as the South Korean manufacturer has been beefing up the Google Android software that runs its phones, in an effort to give businesses a phone with increased security.

“It introduced that software, named Knox, as in the fort, at an international cellphone industry trade show here this week. Samsung said its new version of Android protected users from malware,” details The New York Times. “The company hopes that the new software makes Samsung smartphones attractive to corporate information technology departments that worry about the theft of sensitive corporate data by hackers.”

Samsung teamed up with military contractor General Dynamics to ensure its phones met the strict security standards of government agencies. Knox is set to first appear on a new Galaxy smartphone in the second quarter — likely the Galaxy S IV. The company also teamed with AirWatch, a company that makes tools for IT professionals to manage their phones. AirWatch will make detailed tweaks inside the business persona of Samsung devices, like creating restrictions for Wi-Fi networks or blacklisting certain apps.

The company is confident in this and other ventures. “We will become No. 1 in enterprise,” said Tim Wagner, a vice president for enterprise sales at Samsung who worked at BlackBerry. “If Samsung chooses to be No. 1 in a certain area, we will become No. 1.”

In defense of his product, David J. Smith, the executive vice president for mobile computing at BlackBerry, said: “Whatever any of our competitors announce, one thing won’t change. The most secure mobile computing solution is a BlackBerry device running on a BlackBerry platform.”

BlackBerry’s first BlackBerry 10 phone, the Z10, is scheduled for release in the United States next month, according to NYT. The increased competition should be interesting.