Secure your mobile phone conversations

This year phone hacking sparked the Leveson inquiry, which concluded that the press "wreaked havoc in the lives of innocent people." As a result of this more and more people and businesses are aware of ways that private or personal information can be obtained and how easy it is to do this today. Although heavier legislation will be put in place to stop future hacks within the media, people are now aware of how hacking can be utilised in other areas such as the theft of intellectual property, or getting premature disclosure of mergers and acquisitions. Listening into the private conversations of celebrities, politicians or business leaders can be very valuable to the hacker and damaging to the victim. Those who are potentially at risk shouldn't rely on regulation to stop future hackers. 

Instead, phone encrypting solutions are being used to ensure that you are not at risk. The first generation of solutions came from a commercial smartphone that used military grade encryption to ensure communication between two people with the same handset are secure. These early solutions would cost in the region of £2000 each and the choice of handset was severely restricted. 

Anvil Mobile have released a solution that is far cheaper and can run on any smartphone that uses Android 2.3 or later and on IOS4, 5 or 6. A Secure Mobile application is downloaded to your phone and activation details are provided once the contract is confirmed.  A new secure phone number which works concurrently with the existing mobile number is then used to secure in-coming calls from anywhere and is used to make calls to any number in the world with local protection against interception  . The application also provides easy-to-use, seamless integration with existing phone books/contact lists for convenient access. With this service it is also possible to hold and transfer to another number or use three-way conferencing. Both numbers work when called but any calls made to and from the secure number are protected. 

There are two versions of the application available, a standard and an advanced service. The Advanced version can safely make calls or receive incoming calls from land lines or mobiles anywhere in the world with full encrypted voice protection for both parties over the local leg of the call. Meaning that if your in a high risk situation and someone wants to hack your calls, both parties are protected on your leg of the conversation. The Standard version encrypts calls between two Secure Mobile enabled handsets, providing complete end-to-end protection.  

Secure Mobile uses advanced AES 256-bit encryption and the calls are made and received through a private secure network, which means that no calls are processed in a standard public operator network. Most alternative solutions use the public networks and rely on the same software being on the handsets that make and receive calls.

The Standard Service costs only £30 per month or £45 for the Advanced Service. Calls between Secure Mobile numbers on the same account are free and you can still use your existing mobile number and any contract minutes for non-secure calls. And because Secure Numbers on the Advanced Service are local geographic numbers, calling the secure number costs the caller only a land line call, even from overseas. Secure Mobile applications can be used anywhere in the world and local numbers are available in most countries making this a truly global solution.

“Whether it is to compromise intellectual property, overhear details of mergers and acquisitions or listen into the private conversations of celebrities, politicians or business leaders, it is simple and inexpensive to set up a rogue base station to intercept and record calls. And this is just one method that hackers use to intercept mobile phone calls,” said Ian Philip, CEO at Anvil Mobile.  “The only sure way to avoid the risk of being listened to is by encrypting the calls; but until now that has meant both parties needed to have special software on matching secure mobile phones. Secure Mobile overcomes this limitation with any call to and from any number being locally secure".

Who's listening to your mobile calls

Hacker at work recording your calls

Mobile communications have changed the world and most people find it hard to get through their day without using their mobile phone. Phone calls have always been a personal thing and It’s not uncommon to leave a room of people when you’re phone rings. After all you don’t always want other people to hear your conversation as it might be private. But what if people didn’t need to be in the same room as you to listen to or even record your calls, look through your contacts, read your text messages or even change settings, for example, switch on the microphone. 

Unfortunately this is exactly what hackers are able to do, with just a small amount of equipment and a bit of time. They can set up a rogue cell and as your phone will automatically roam to the strongest signal, if they are close by your phone connects to them and you are at their mercy. In many cases the information they steal can be very valuable or sensitive and can have a major effect on businesses and individuals. So who does this? People who want a story to sell to the media, unethical competitors, anyone who can gain a financial advantage or advance their cause, someone with a grudge and last but not least, criminals.


What can be done to stop your mobile calls from being intercepted or hacked? There are many different options that are available to ensure that your calls are secure. Applications that can be downloaded and run on the handset are proving to be a popular solution. Most of these require the same application to be running on the both the caller and receiver’s handsets and security only works within a closed user group. Ideally, the best solution would be one where an application provides security whoever you call whether land line or mobile and also when you receive a call from anyone, anywhere.



Anyone who doubts the ease with which mobile phones can be attacked can search YouTube for a demonstration or Google for all the technical details. Key search words are “IMSI catcher” “Mobile phone spying” “Cell phone hacking”

Secure remote access for people on the move

There are many advantages to working remotely, however there is one big problem that companies have to approach, and that is security. When it comes to remote portal and information access security is on the top of most companies list.  So how do you ensure that employees are not hindered by lots of security measures but valuable information is not put at risk?

Up until now, security solutions have either been very secure but devilishly difficult to use or the solution would be easy to use but not so strong on security.  Cloudkey delivers the best of both worlds and can be used in any computer with a USB slot, leaving no footprint behind in terms of browser history and user activity – ideal for BYOD environments.

Looking like a simple USB Modem (dongle), the Option Cloudkey offers much more by providing a platform for building secure internet and intranet access solutions.

Cloud key integrates market proven Vasco DIGIPASS authentication* with Option’s 3G communications technology to provide an all in one product that simplifies strong, secure access to sensitive applications in private corporate networks and Intranets. When used in conjunction with Anvil’s business grade 3G data service, security is strengthened by using a fixed IP address on the SIM which will give a un-contended internet connection plus a unique user name and password for each SIM. This means that data does not traverse the public internet with the result that the service is more robust, reliable, secure, and performs better than standard, consumer grade 3G services.

Corporate firewalls can be configured to only allow the correct IP address into the private network. Then, the combination of Option and Vasco security restricts the user to authorised applications only. All the user has to do is to enter their DIGIPASS password to gain access. Different models of Cloudkey allow DIGIPASS passwords to be set to varying levels of security – static, a one-time password and application specific.

Cloudkey can be deployed in any situation where users require secure, highly available internet connectivity combined with strong authentication for internet and intranet access in government, finance, banking, health authorities, commercial and industrial enterprises. Also, where DIGIPASS technology has already been deployed there is now a safe way to extend the service with mobile 3G communications.

The solution is modular and expandable and can be tailored to the specific requirements of an application or corporate policy. A USB port is used to power the Cloudkey, however, there is no software needed on the device and once a session has been terminated there is no footprint left on the PC/Laptop/tablet – this includes no browsing history or record of user activity.


For more info on Cloudkey click here.

For more info on fixed IP data SIM's click here