In an ironic twist of fate, IBM announced that it has patented a new technique for detecting and blocking malicious code a day after being slammed with a lawsuit over its ties to the NSA’s espionage operations, which involve – among other things – the use of sophisticated malware.

Big Blue’s newly received U.S. Patent #8,341,747 covers a “method to provide a secure virtual machine launcher” for mobile devices running on corporate networks. The technology checks if an app has been tampered with before (rather than after) execution, and automatically prevents it from running if any changes are detected. This is achieved with a special mechanism that can distinguish whether the underlying code has been packaged by the original developer or decrypted and later re-encrypted by a third party.

“This patented invention will help organizations confidently and securely embrace the advantages of a mobile workforce while remaining protected against malicious content or intent,” detailed Andrew Cornwall, a mobile software developer at IBM. “Our technique helps businesses prevent altered apps from running and unleashing their wrath on businesses, their networks and their customers.”

Shortly before IBM unveiled the latest addition to its massive patent stockfile, a shareholder filed a complaint with U.S. District Court in Manhattan charging that the company concealed the impact of its participation in the PRISM program on sales in China, which dropped 22 percent last quarter. The lawsuit claims that this led to a $12.9 billion drop in Big Blue’s market cap.

Big Blue promptly released a snappy response that dismisses the allegations as a “conspiracy theory” and calls on the pension fund’s law firm to “do the right thing and dismiss this action immediately.” Not doing so would be a “profound disservice to the judicial system, to the public, and in this case, to IBM,” the tech giant said.