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Celebrities turn to encryption to keep phones private
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CELLPHONE hacking sparked the inquiry that led Lord Justice Leveson to conclude that the press “wreaked havoc in the lives of innocent people” in his long-awaited report to the British government last week. But those in the public eye aren’t counting on heavier press regulation to stop future hackers. Instead, they are increasingly placing their bets on emerging smartphone technologies that foil eavesdroppers by encrypting voice and text data in real time.
One such technology hails from GSMK, based in Berlin, Germany. Its CryptoPhones are commercial smartphones that use military-grade encryption algorithms to ensure that calls, texts and voicemails – when passing between people with similar secure devices – are all but unhackable. These cost around €2000 per handset. But now a rival has entered the fray with a much cheaper approach.
Silent Circle of Washington DC launched its real-time call encryption app Silent Phone for the iPhone in October, and next week it releases a version for Android. CEO Mike Janke, a former security expert with the US Navy Seals, claims demand for the service, which costs £13 per month, has taken him by surprise: “A-list Hollywood celebrities, special forces operatives, diplomats from nine nations, and a clutch of Fortune 100 companies have signed up to use our service in our first 40 days,” he says.