Secure Conference Calling for Mobile Devices – New service delivers encrypted calls and authenticates participants
Cellcrypt, a provider of secure mobile voice calling solutions, today announced a conference calling service that provides both device authentication and voice call encryption to participants using popular mobile devices including BlackBerry and Nokia.
Companies often discuss confidential and highly sensitive information on calls such as sales, supplier and executive management meetings, intellectual property discussions, high value business deal talks, crisis management calls or even discussions concerning disaster scenarios and national security.
Traditional conference calling services are open to abuse through unauthorized access. Conference calls security is often poorly managed with dial-in details and PINs rarely changing. A commonly reported scenario is for ex-employees to continue to access conference from their former employer and passing details to competitors.
With many employees travelling or working remotely, they often access conference calls using cell phones, which are increasingly at risk of interception. The Cellcrypt Secure Conference Service both authenticates the participant’s cell phone and encrypts conversations end-to-end between each participant and the conference bridge.
“Conference calls by their very nature typically contain some of the most sensitive and confidential information an organization has,” said Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO at Cellcrypt. “These calls are highly desirable to attackers, who know just how valuable the information is. As the risk of cellular interception has increased so has the vulnerability of mobile executives accessing conference calls from the mobile phones. Organizations should urgently review their communications practices and act to protect their mission-critical conference calls.”
To utilize the secure conference calling solution participants select a bridge number from their Cellcrypt Mobile enabled Blackberry or Nokia device to enter the call. Office phones can also securely participate in conference calls when connected via Cellcrypt’s Enterprise Gateway solution.
Organizations can manage conference calls using a web console to define all users that may access the conferencing service, create bridge numbers, define policies such as user white lists and additional access PINs. Optionally, a bridge may allow access from selected public payphone using Caller ID and PINs for authentication in geographies where the threat of interception is regarded as controlled, though the calls from public telephones are not encrypted.
The service builds on Cellcrypt’s existing solutions that provide encrypted voice calls on cell phones, such as BlackBerry and Nokia smartphones, delivering government-grade security. Utilizing the IP data channel it supports all major wireless networks, Wi-Fi and satellite.