By Shaun Waterman The Washington Times
A cheap new encryption technology for mobile phones completely blocks eavesdropping, even from warrant-wielding law enforcement agents – raising fears the technology could fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals.
The software poses a growing problem that U.S. law enforcement agencies call “going dark” – the spread of communications technologies that cannot be intercepted even with a warrant because agencies lack the technical capabilities.
But experts say the feds’ proposed solution to get around the blackout – by legally mandating the insertion of “back doors” into such software to allow eavesdropping – creates an opening which could be exploited by hackers, online criminals or cyberspies.
The issue is not unique to the United States. Intelligence and counter-terrorism officials in the United Kingdom are concerned about the new mobile phone application, called Seecrypt, according the London Mail on Sunday.
The app provides individual users with military grade encryption — sending voice and text over the Internet in an a scrambled data stream that can only be deciphered by another user.
The new application, which is free to download and will cost $3 a month, is made by a South African-based company, Porton Group, that boasts “we don’t comply” with such mandates, said CEO Harvey Boulter. The program does not have a “Legal Intercept” capability, said Mr. Boulter.
“Seecrypt is about empowering people to take back their own privacy,” he added in an email to The Washington Times. Even so-called meta-data — information about which numbers called in or were called, and when and for how long — is stored in a secure private network to which only users have the key.
But he promised the company “would work with law enforcement agencies to make sure this does not get misused.
“Simply put if asked by the authorities the license can be revoked instantaneously,” he said, effectively cutting the user off from the service.
Last year, the U.S. company Silent Circle caused consternation in law enforcement circles when they launched a similar package here.