Cellcrypt for BlackBerry Secures Cellular Voice Conversation
The BlackBerry platform is known for its impressive security safeguards; Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) is literally designed from the ground up to meet enterprise security needs, and its various international security certifications attest to its effectiveness. However, there's one component of the BlackBerry ecosystem that's largely unguarded from potential threats: phone calls, i.e., voice traffic.
RIM's Manager of BlackBerry Developer Relations, Mike Kirkup, had this to say when asked if BlackBerry voice traffic is secure:
"I wish I could say it was. We just use normal voice channels."
That means that even though the data stored on your BlackBerry is protected, along with your e-mail and other messaging, you could potentially be opening yourself up to trouble every time you make a voice call.
And according to Cellcrypt CEO Simon Bransfield-Garth, exploits meant to tap into BlackBerry voice transmissions are entirely plausible--though they're also rare at this point. That's where Cellcrypt Mobile for the BlackBerry Bold comes in.
Cellcrypt, which is the first product of its kind for BlackBerry according to both Kirkup and Bransfield-Garth, aims to fill in the missing piece of the BlackBerry-security-puzzle by encrypting voice communications. The product is meant for use in government, pharmaceutical, legal and finance sectors, but any senior level business executive--or anyone else--who frequently discusses sensitive matters via BlackBerry could benefit.
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It's all a hype
Cellcrypt is known for its reputation of hyping things up. I had a chance to have the first hand experience of the product, the latency figures currently stand at 1 sec on 3G and around 800ms mark on WIFI. As a global head of security of a fortune 50 I am skecptial of the product. I have been in conversations with various secure voicevendors and the current hardware and firm ware is a bottleneck in delivering a useable solution. This will not be possible atleast before mid of 2010. Hopefully by then there will be many other vendors in the playing field. This will not only bring the price tag down but also decrease the latency to an ucceptable mark.