Crypto phone
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Crypto phones are telephones that provide security against eavesdropping and electronic surveillance. For the security to function, both parties involved in a call need to utilize a crypto phone. These phones have been developed so that confidential information can be exchanged without a great risk of eavesdropping.
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[edit] Purpose and function
The interception of telecommunications has itself become an industry. Many intelligence agencies and private organisations intercept telephone communication to obtain information about politics, military information or the economy. The cost for cellular surveillance devices has become so low that individuals can use it in creating small business conflicts.[citation needed] The use of wiretapping in telecommunications exists everywhere[citation needed], making it difficult to determine who intercepts and records private communications. Crypto phones can protect calls from interceptions because they use algorithms to encrypt communications. The crypto phone has a cryptographic chip that handles the encryption and decryption of the communications. Two algorithms are combined in crypto phones: A key-exchange algorithm for key agreement and a symmetrical algorithm for voice encryption. The crypto phone can function with or without encryption.
[edit] Prevention
Crypto phones encrypt the communication inside the phone. This is to say, the communication is encrypted twice - by crypto phone and then by GSM. When the IMSI-catcher performs a man-in-the-middle-attack and disables the GSM encryption there still is the crypto phone encryption to crack. Therefore, while still being able to intercept your signal, it can no longer be decoded and also fake SMS messages to and from your phone can no longer be sent since the IMSI-catcher does not have the proper code it needs to send along with the messages.
[edit] Authentication
At the beginning of the call, two sides of the crypto phone get the same session key by using the Hashfunktion. Then the session key become a confirm code with a mathematic method. The confirm code could be 3 letters or 4 numbers in different companies. In the crypto mode the user reads the confirm code over the encrypted line to the communication partner and verifies the confirm code which the communication partner reads to him. If there were a discrepancy in the confirm code, a man-in-the-middle attack has been detected.
[edit] Key erase
When one makes a call, the crypto phone will set up a secure connection between two phones. During this setup, the phones agree on a very long and secure 'session code' that is only used for that specific call. At call ending, all parameters are wiped from memory, and there is no way anyone can reconstruct the code used or the content of the calls. The very moment you end a call, your phone is clean again. Only intercepted and stored encrypted material can be kept for later analysis, trying to break the code via the trial-and-error method.
[edit] Conclusion
The telecommunications interception is now already a big industry.[citation needed] The use of wiretapping in telecommunications exists everywhere.[citation needed] Common phones can be intercepted very easily:[citation needed] between the GSM base station and the providers network phase with the catching and reading equipment and between the phone and the GSM base station with IMSI-catcher. The Crypto Phone has very excellent[neutrality disputed] algorithms to encrypt the calls, so it can prevent the interception in the two phases. In addition the Crypto Phone has very good security capabilities[neutrality disputed].
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
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