Silent Circle, a startup company providing private encrypted communications solutions, this week released a version of its “Silent Phone” app for Android.
Silent Phone offers a peer-to-peer secure encrypted data communications service, and is now available for Android, adding to existing support for iOS devices.
With the goal of revolutionizing privacy and mobile security, the company was co-founded by former Navy SEAL sniper Mike Janke, and PGP creator Phil Zimmermann, and has created an advanced platform for encrypted text, e-mail, mobile phone and video teleconferencing services through a secure, proprietary network and set of applications.
Silent Phone uses an application running on a smartphone or tablet, combined with encryption technology and Silent Circle’s secure, custom-built “Silent Network” in order to secure voice and video call data across cellular and Wi-Fi networks.
Silent Phone also supports secure video over 3G, 4G, EDGE or Wi-Fi networks, the company said.
For $20.00 a month, users get their own individualized phone number to use for secure calls through the SilientCircle service. That number can be used for encrypted calls “inside the Circle” between any two Silent Phone users, which are routed through the Silent Network, the company explained. An option for “out-circle” access is also available where users can make calls outside the circle to and from any number, though the last leg of the connection looses the encryption benefit after leaving the Silent Circle network.
Silent Phone utilizes the ZRTP peer-to-peer encryption protocol which eliminates the risks of having a third-party store and manage encryption keys. The company also promises that there are “absolutely no back doors” in the platform.
“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,” said Silent Circle CTO, co-founder and former PGP Corporation co-founder Jon Callas. “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.”
“Large organizations are in need of a secure, cross platform communications service. We are pleased to offer Android users, who comprise approximately 75 percent of the total smartphone market, a robust service offering,” said Silent Circle CEO, co-founder and former U.S. Navy SEAL, Mike Janke. “Encryption of this strength and performance has never been this easy for top executives and other espionage targets to use in support of their job requirements, mobility and missions.”
To use Silent Phone, users get the app from Google Play or the App Store and create a Silent Circle account.
Silent Circle offers other secure communications solutions including:
• “Silent Text” which provides encrypted text messaging with “burn notice” feature for permanently deleting messages from device registries. Available for iOS now with Android version coming soon.
• Silent Eyes – Encrypted VoIP (video & voice) teleconferencing from laptops and business conference systems through Silent Circle’s custom HD network. Currently only available for Windows machines.
The company also plans to launch an encrypted e-mail service to be called “Silent Mail” that will offer compatibility with popular e-mail client software.
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