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Now You Can Encrypt Your Calls, Texts to Protect Them From Being Spied On

Feb. 6, 2013 1:44pm Liz Klimas

(Image: Silent Circle)

There are those who might be concerned about spying — by the government, hackers or someone else — on their phone calls and text messages. Well, now there’s an app for that.

According to Slate, the firm Silent Circle has released a smartphone app that encrypts data. As Ryan Gallagher for Slate puts it, “that means photographs, videos, spreadsheets, you name it—sent scrambled from one person to another in a matter of seconds.”

The company’s press release stated the Silent Phone app is available for both Apple and Android devices. It is described as the first peer-to-peer encryption tool for smartphones and tablets, which means information doesn’t pass through a third-party.

“Senior corporate executives and government officials are using work-issued smartphones and their own personal devices under BYOD for sensitive discussions, despite their increasing susceptibility to eavesdropping and other surveillance threats across all communication mediums,” Silent Circle CTO, co-founder and former PGP Corporation co-founder Jon Callas said in a statement . “Silent Phone is an easy to use, yet powerful smart phone application that leverages state of the art technology and is now available for iOS and Android, the two most popular smart phone platforms.”

The app creators discuss the need for encryption in this video:

Previous encryption, Slate noted, was relatively difficult for the non-tech savvy to understand. Gallagher writes that this app removes the difficulty.

Here’s more on Gallagher’s thoughts about the app and its potential:

It’s a game-changer that will almost certainly make life easier and safer for journalists, dissidents, diplomats, and companies trying to evade state surveillance or corporate espionage. Governments pushing for more snooping powers, however, will not be pleased.

[...]

But while Silent Circle’s revolutionary technology will assist many people in difficult environments, maybe even saying lives, there’s also a dark side. Law enforcement agencies will almost certainly be seriously concerned about how it could be used to aid criminals. The FBI, for instance, wants all communications providers to build in backdoors so it can secretly spy on suspects. Silent Circle is pushing hard in the exact opposite direction—it has an explicit policy that it cannot and will not comply with law enforcement eavesdropping requests. Now, having come up with a way not only to easily communicate encrypted but to send files encrypted and without a trace, the company might be setting itself up for a serious confrontation with the feds. Some governments could even try to ban the technology.

[Silent Circle CEO Mike] Janke is bracing himself for some “heat” from the authorities, but he’s hopeful that they’ll eventually come round. The 45-year-old former Navy SEAL commando tells me he believes governments will eventually realize that “the advantages are far outweighing the small ‘one percent’ bad-intent user cases.” One of those advantages, he says, is that “when you try to introduce a backdoor into technology, you create a major weakness that can be exploited by foreign governments, hackers, and criminal elements.”

The app, which can be downloaded from the Google Play or App Store costs $20 per month and both parties sending and receiving information need to have the app for it to work.

In addition to the Silent Phone app, which works to encrypt calls, here are a few other apps from Silent Circle with encryption capabilities:

Silent Text: Encrypted text messaging with “burn notice” feature for permanently deleting messages from device registries. Currently available for iOS with Android version pending.

Silent Eyes: Encrypted VoIP (video & voice) teleconferencing from laptops and business conference systems through Silent Circle’s custom HD network. Currently available for Windows.

Silent Mail: Coming soon, Silent Mail will offer encrypted e-mail on Silent Circle’s private, secure network and compatibility with popular e-mail client software.

Watch the features of the Silent Phone app for iOS devices:

Check out the features for Android devices using the Silent Phone app:

Featured image via Shutterstock.com.

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Comments (49)

dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 10:27am
Looks like Android reviews aren’t so good. $20 a month is steep, gotta have a compelling reason or an expense account to pay for this. Also, it would be nice to have a 3rd party verify it really is secure and not being routed through that Utah data center.

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sinner-saint
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 10:20am
Should read up more about Phil Zimmerman. He caved. AES 256…..government standard encryption – it’a already been cracked. Want good encryption? Use semi-elliptic curve encryption with big keys 3000 bit or higher. They go crazy on that stuff because they can’t crack it and it will definitely get their attention when you transmit it on the Internet too. All the other stuff is a waste of time and effort.

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- Pontiaku
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 1:15pm
  Oh yeah yeah. Ok, why don’t you just post the links to your source here?
  
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kadster01
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 10:17am
There is only one foolproof way to prevent spies from intercepting electronic communication: don’t send or receive any.

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sinner-saint
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 1:57am
LOL………what a joke on the people. This isn’t secure at all. This is Big Brother. No thank you……I have much better encryption Big Brother can’t crack. Those supercomputers haven’t cracked it yet. Maybe in another 200 years are so…..but not yet.

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Imjetta
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 7:37pm
If you want it, you better get it ASAP, before Big Brother decides you can’t have it.

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nzkiwi
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 6:45pm
This is kind of like an arms race between the American people and the administrators that they sent to Washington to manage the country on their behalf.

Something seems to have gone wrong somewhere…

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- Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 10:57pm
  Actually its more of a case that many of us in America have gotten disgusted with the intrusiveness of the government across the board and are seeking to guarantee our own privacy as we can.
  
  I can imagine in short order the Feds will issue a demand for the encryption keys, if they do not already have them in hand, or they will move to seize them ‘for national security reasons’ that are another ‘wag the dog’ effort by Obama and his power-mad associates.
  
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- nzkiwi
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 1:48am
  Sadly, Snow, there is every possibility that you are right…
  
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- 2ndOpinion
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:49am
  GSM cell phone towers have radios. Each radio can handle 7 calls. More radios = more call capacity. When you initiate a call your phone communicates with the ‘control channel’ to do the necessary handshakes to set up the call before it is transferred to one of the 7 traffic channels. Part of this handshaking process is done in the open, and then switches to an encryption scheme built into the GSM protocol. Yes, that’s no longer a prob for the gov. Also the software that resides in the central office on the Base Station Controllers (BSC’s) has it’s own block of code provided by biig brother so they can do what big brother wants to do. No, they don’t tell you what’s in it. They just demand that it gets on your system. And yes, local law enforcement is often given their own back door so they can track locations of persons of interest. I’ve personally seen it and touched it and may still have a picture of it. Place your phone near your AM radio as you drive around. You’ll ocassionally hear a pulsating, chopping noise as your phone does its periodic registrations or when it does a handover to a neighboring cell tower. That’s how the system knows where to route the call as you drive across the cuntry. Called the HLR and VLR. Home Location Register and Visitor Location Register.
  Also, if a cell tech wants to, they can patch into the circuit in the central office using an Anritsu T1 analyzer, select a timeslot and turn on the audio and hear a cell call. Don’t ever think y
  
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- 2ndOpinion
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 8:03am
  I forgot a letter ‘o’ in a particular word. Made for a funny read…
  
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publicas
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 5:48pm
Hushmail is a good alternative to isp and web mail services that scan your email content. In just 2010, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft’s Live, MSN, hotmail ratted out over 2 million people to DHS, FBI… resulting in only 51 convictions. And that as the last time those figures were made public.

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RIG4DIVE
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 5:48pm
For those who desire greater security, you can utilize one time ciphers.
http://krako.chez.com/nouveau/spy/cs013.htm

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:51pm
When criminal hacking is up 500% that tells us one thing, government does not have a handle on computer security, so why should we not encrypt our communications? If the government can’t stop the 500% increase in hacking, what makes you think it has the time to even read or listen to your communications? The hackers have your back door, not the government?

I would like to see the major email companies, integrate a similar solution where once you read an email, you can save it on the server encrypted with a different password. I’m sure there are some apps out there, and you can do this manually, but it is not convenient, so when hackers break into email accounts, they have all kinds of things to look at?

The lack of leadership by Congress and private industry is stunning?

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- skippy6
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 5:18pm
  But isn’t there still a way to get around encryption….Is it not true once in cyberspace always in cyberspace? IMO I think the government hires former hackers to work for them…
  
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nomark
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:47pm
I have no need for this, but I’m going to buy it anywaysto support companies that support our rights.

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TheIggies
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:02pm
Yeah, I’m sure there’s no way the NSA and their endless stream of MIT grads will ever be able to break this code. Oh wait, the FCC controls the airwaves anyway, so all they have to do is ban this type of encryption, no NSA needed.

Can’t believe some people here think this technology will actually be able to stop the government from spying on them. They OWN the airwaves. You don’t. You have no RIGHT to privacy when you’re using the GOVERNMENT’S AIRWAVES.

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- NoMoMrNiceGuy
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:34pm
  I trust NO technology anymore. PERIOD
  
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- Clive
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:50pm
  agreed, is this some kind of sponsored post? how many blaze readers will pay for this app, thinking it will shield them from the gov’t eyes? bad news folks, this ain’t gonna work. good news, is there are too many dissenting voices for the gov’t to do anything about it. it would be like prosecuting people who have viewed pornography on the internet, you have to arrest 85% of the country.
  
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bobbknight
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:40pm
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

Every thing you do on the internet is recorded.
Every phone call you make is recorded.
Every email you send is recorded.
Why do you think the huge data center was built in Utah.
If you speak out for liberty.
If you call for the return to Constitutional principles.
You are an enemy of the state.
You are a person of interest just by visiting sites like the blaze.
Collapse and revolution are coming, will you be ready?

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txswalker
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:33pm
too expensive….84 bucks for 3 months

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moreteaplease
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:03pm
Our intrusive government is probably already working on legislation to ban this.

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Charles Curtis
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:58pm
All the ‘backdoor’ blog heads need to read Phil Zimmerman’s bio. . . He’s done this before and been prosecuted (unsuccessfully) for it too. As for business – State Department already sells your “secret” proprietary processes overseas to the favorites. Head our of you behind the times and look out to the horizon for a change of view.

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Charles Curtis
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:51pm
This is a game changer, USE IT WHILE YOU CAN… Protect it.

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colascguy
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:23pm
Nothing new here. I also don’t see how this is great @ fighting Government @20 a month it puts it out of the reach of the poor. Still trying to see what size key they use to know if it really is worth the time. Everyone needs to remember that there is significant horsepower in the server farms of the cloud which makes decryption much faster then ever before.

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woodyee
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:11pm
I wish they’d come up with something like this once a week!

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Chuck7884
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:08pm
Remember the government can get the key to unlock your encryption from the companies that sells your product. there for if your tring to hide what ever from the government is pointless because they have the Universal keys to all encryption programs form the original owners Sold in the United States.

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- Endyr
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:59pm
  You are mistaken. I know this first hand. Skype is compromised, that is true, but for you to say all encryption products are compromised sold in the US makes you look like well, finish the sentence for me.
  
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- battles
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:27pm
  I believe that with Silent Circle, you create your own public/secret keys. I also think that Silent Circle is a Phil Zimmerman company and he is the creator of PGP. Neither the company or government can access your keys unless they can get to your phone. Then there is usually a passphrase that protects your secret key as well. I would guess that you can force the phone to require the passphrase to be entered before each encrypted call.
  
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- Chuck7884
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:34pm
  Every program has a master key. This is how they unencrypted your program when you have either lost or forgot your password or words!. Did not think I had to explain it to you ! all of them have a master key and they will charge you to unlock what ever is encrypted.
  
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- Chuck7884
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:41pm
  Another name for a master key I take you did not like. Would a back door to said programs be more to your liking?.
  
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- US-First
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:44pm
  Ridiculousness. Learn more watch TV less.
  
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- battles
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:13pm
  That is absolutely wrong. I am an expert in data encryption. I don’t know where you came about this false information, but it is wrong. If you use PGP or GPG, its public and private key encryption has no master key. Even symmetrically encrypting data with PGP and GPG cannot be broken with a so called master key. Although a program can be written to stealthily include the key, most do not because if they were caught doing this, it could lead to legal problems. None of the popular encryption cyphers (Blowfish, Cast128, Cast256, DES, 3DES, IDEA, Rijndael, Twofish) has a so called master key. I must assure everyone reading that Chuck7884 does not know what he is talking about.
  
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RoDogg
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:07pm
Lets just forget get our constitutional rights being trampled on and create an app! *sarcasm

Now their business relies on unconstitutional searches so I don’t see them defending much! Shame on them IMO.

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Chuck7884
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:02pm
You can and it will bring undue attention to your self.

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- shorelineliz
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:19pm
  I guess I better stop sending those dirty texts to my husband!
  
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- Chuck7884
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:28pm
  well up to you lol be prepared to find them on the internet :P Hope no pictures are attached.
  
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- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:31pm
  Shore – You can send them to me – I won’t tell !
  
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FlagWavingPatriot
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:01pm
If it ever got too mainstream, you can bet our great politicians would outlaw it. You know, for your safety, citizen.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 1:55pm
It’s a great idea because the government doesn’t need to be in everyone’s business at all,if you think I’m doing something illegal get a warrant. Oh what am I thinking that warrant stuff was killed off years ago.
If the regime wants to get into your system they’re going to. I applaud Mr. Callas efforts but government simply can’t stand for people to have any privacy so they’ll get through his security if they deem someone a ‘terrorist’ or a political enemy.

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- TheIggies
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:03pm
  If you have this technology the police already have probably cause.
  
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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 7:29pm
  Probable cause is no longer required in new Amerika!
  
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banjarmon
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 1:49pm
Watch BIG BROTHER go after this, like using a 9 pound hammer on a cockroach!

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- CatB
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 1:55pm
  Yes .. they will have to provide a “backdoor” .. making the app useless since that will open it up to anyone who wants to break it able to do so.
  
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CatB
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 1:49pm
$20 per month and both parties must have it .. great deal .. for drug dealers and customers.

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- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:33pm
  Yah, I need to start encrypting all my texts, so people can’t spy on what my wife wants me to pick up at the store, or what we are having for dinner.
  
  For the life of me, why would anyone want to spy on the majority of peoples texts? Although if someone is, like you said, dealing drugs, etc. they would want this.
  
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- bring-it-on
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:24pm
  Darmok – Yeah, as long as it does not affect you to day – why worry?
  
  Also, why would any one be willing to be strip searched to get on an airplane.
  
  Only sheople (fools) would put up with the loss of liberty in the pretense of safety.
  
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- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:11pm
  Bring it On:
  I am just saying, I wouldn’t see a need for it, and I don’t use text or emails for anything nefarious that I would need to encrypt. I do work in a job that handles sensitive information and we use very sophisticated encryption. The Govt. shouldn’t be snooping, but thanks to Bush, we now have warrantless wiretapping and spying on US citizens. So my point is, great, if you want this, pay for it, I don’t care if they read my stuff, there isn’t anything there I am ashamed or fearful of, but I am not happy with our Govt. reading our stuff with no warrant.
  
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