A new piece of encryption software that would have made it impossible for the alleged tapping of mobile phones belonging to the Royal Household, ministers, MPs and celebrities to take place is set to be launched in the UK.

Babylon nG, available from One Day Mobile, has been jointly developed with German partners Safe-com and the military and can be used on 2.5 and 3G mobile telephones and smartphones. Users simply install the software which enables them to encrypt some, or all, of their conversations.
The release of the software is a move away from the bulky handsets traditionally associated with voice encryption and means standard mobile phones can now be used for encrypted calls.

As the news of the possible mobile phone tapping of leading figures shows it is a common misconception that when using digital handsets, the signals are already encrypted. One Day Mobile points out that whilst the signal between the mobile phone and base station are scrambled, the transmission between the sending and receiving transmitter is not - that is when the signal is open to hackers.

Earlier this year, there was another scandal that highlighted the susceptibility of mobile phones to tapping when it was revealed in Greece that the prime minister and other high-ranking officials had their conversations tapped for more than a year. This shows the potential for the unscrupulous to access sensitive information.

Babylon nG uses the GPRS capabilities of mobile phones - currently used for data-transfer such as web surfing - to provide a secure channel for voice communication from anywhere where roaming is possible. Using Babylon nG means the voice is encrypted when a call is made and unscrambled by a suitably enabled receiving handset. The encryption changes every time a call is made and each handset has its own unique encryption key. When the encryption is not required, the handset maintains all the usual functions of a mobile phone, whether encryption is used or not. It can make standard voice calls, send texts and surf the web on the users chosen network.

Related links: (Open in a new window.)
www.babylonng.co.uk

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