Phil Zimmermann’s Silent Circle Builds a Secure, Seductive Fortress Around Your Smartphone
Phil Zimmermann’s Silent Circle Builds a Secure, Seductive Fortress Around Your Smartphone
The cryptography legend is teaming up with two ex-Navy SEALs to offer encrypted phone calls, video conferencing, and text messages with no learning curve whatsoever. The target market? Businesspeople and government employees traveling abroad.
In the 1990s, cryptography pioneer and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) creator Phil Zimmermann faced federal criminal investigation. His encryption software was so strong, it was charged, there was fear it violated arms trafficking export controls.
Now Zimmermann has launched a new startup that provides industrial strength encryption for smartphone users. And this time around, his business partners include two ex-Navy SEALs.
Silent Circle, which launches on October 15, is a secure communications product for Android and iOS that works on a paid subscription model. Users will have access to encrypted phone calls, emails, VoIP videoconferencing, SMS text messages, and MMS multimedia messages. Security varies depending on whether communications are made to another user on Silent Circle’s closed network, or to an outside user. Text and multimedia messages are wiped from a phone’s registry after a pre-determined amount of time, and communications within the network are allegedly completely secure.