This IS a secure line: The groundbreaking encryption app that will scramble your calls and messages

Silent Circle can encrypt calls, texts, emails, videos and file transfers

Protocols are so strong even powerful supercomputers cannot crack them

The app is already available on both iPhone and Android

Company's cryptographers spoke to MailOnline



A new app promises to encrypt all your smartphone communications to make them look and sound like gibberish to anyone trying to listen in.

Startup tech firm Silent Circle say their system is 'a secure information service' which can allow users to communicate via voice, text message, email and even video without fear of being tapped.

The app is already available on both iPhone and Android, and its functionality has recently been broadened to allow users to not only communicate securely but also easily send encrypted files.

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Secure: A new smartphone app promises to secure all your communications with sophisticated encryption so that no-one will be able to listen to what you are saying

Encryption is the process of process of encoding messages or information in such a way that eavesdroppers cannot read it, but the intended recipient can.

WEB USERS SEEKING 'INVISIBILITY'

Consumer efforts to protect personal data and remain 'invisible' online is leading to a 'data blackhole' that could adversely impact digital advertisers, according to a new report.

The move to seek 'new tools that allow them to remain ‘invisible’ — untraceable and impossible to target by data means' will impact advertisers who rely on that information to target their audiences, technology research firm Ovum said yesterday .

Surveying consumers in 11 countries around the world, the research firm said 68 per cent of respondents said they would select a 'do not track' feature if this was easily available.

Mark Little, a principal analyst at Ovum, said Internet users were increasingly getting more access to new tools to 'monitor, control and secure their personal data as never before'.

The recent scandal involving privacy breaches by mobile messaging service WhatsApp and lingering concerns over data use policies on Facebook and Google are prompting Internet users to be more guarded, Ovum added.

While the simplest encryption goes back at least as far as the ancient Greeks, modern day digital methods are so strong that even the most sophisticated supercomputers would take years to crack it.

However, while such advanced digital encryption is nothing new, until now using it reliably has been difficult for anyone who is not a sophisticated user.

Silent Circle works in conjunction with users' standard mobile network data plan.

The technology uses sophisticated peer-to-peer encryption to render the data transmitted into what would sound to eavesdroppers like random noise.

Similarly, emails and text messages would appear to anyone attempting to intercept them as random strings of letters and characters.

Although the data is handled by Silent Circle's own network and servers along the way, the company insists that the keys to the encryption are only held by the users communicating and not even they can crack it.

Other smartphone encryption apps already exist, some of them free, but Silent Circle insists its product is the first to bring together an entire suite of encryption products and make it easy to use.



How it works: The technology uses sophisticated peer-to-peer encryption to render the data transmitted into what would sound to eavesdroppers like random noise

The team behind Silent Circle includes Phil Zimmerman, inventor of PGP ecryption, which is still considered the standard for email security, and Phil Zimmerman, former chief scientist at PGP corporation and the developer of Apple's whole-disk encryption.

In an interview with MailOnline, Mr Callas, now chief technology officer at Silent Circle, described it as a 'secure information service.'

‘It’s a subscription service that lets you do secure voice, video and email using a standard mobile device,' he said.

‘Let’s say you are in a war zone, or you are a business traveller in China,’ he said. ‘You might want to talk to someone back home and talk to them about what you are doing there that might be of interest to the local wiretapping environment.’

Top cryptographers: Jon Callas, left, and Phil Zimmerman, right, spoke to MailOnline

MailOnline reported yesterday how hostile wiretapping environments may not be so far from home.



The British government, at the urging of security agencies, is planning to implement a surveillance regime that would expose practically everyone's communications to potential investigation.

But the problem is not necessarily overarching national surveillance machines, Mr Zimmerman added, but also the huge number of examples of non-state surveillance.

As more of our communications move online the potential for interception is greater than ever, with cybercriminals in particular proving a threat.

WHAT SILENT CIRCLE'S APP OFFERS Silent Phone: Encrypted voice and video calls on mobile devices. Currently available for iOS and Android, it can be used with Wi-Fi, EDGE, 3G or 4G cellular anywhere in the world.



Silent Text: Encrypted text messaging with 'burn notice' feature for permanently deleting messages from device registries. Currently available for iOS with Android version pending.



Silent Eyes: Encrypted VoIP (video & voice) teleconferencing from laptops and business conference systems through Silent Circle's custom HD network. Currently available for Windows.



Silent Mail: Coming soon, Silent Mail will offer PGP encrypted e-mail on Silent Circle's private, secure network and compatibility with popular e-mail client software.

Silent Circle’s kind of customers, Mr Zimmermann says, ‘see the hacking that’s going on internationally, they know that a lot of services they use collect information and use it to target ads’.

‘People say I’m being watched all the time now. It’s not a Big Brother thing, it’s a little brother thing; it’s all these little things that are eroding our basic privacy.’

But the pair said they do not necessarily expect their products to be used by average consumers, it is more pitched towards personnel in corporations and governments for which secure communications are essential.



'This is for people that really care about security. This is for serious users who have a serious need - not teenage girls telling their friends about a crush,' Mr Callas said.



But Mr Zimmerman quipped: 'Of course they are welcome to buy it like anyone else.'



With governments across the world - from ostensible democracies to totalitarian dictatorships - upgrading their eavesdropping infrastructure to cover practically all communications, there has never been more demand for encryption.

Yesterday it emerged that UK spy agencies want phone networks and internet service providers to install surveillance 'black boxes' that would allow them to eavesdrop on everything passing through their infrastructure.

The government argues that swift access to communications data is critical to the fight against terrorism and other high-level crime, but Mr Zimmerman and Mr Callas say even if their service is used by criminals it is still better that it is available.

Comparing digital encryption to locks on front doors, Mr Zimmerman said Silent Circle see themselves as the locksmiths of the digital age.

'Society is better off with everybody having locks on their doors. Everybody having locks including the criminals,' he said.

Silent Circle is available on iPhone and Android. Subscription costs $20 a month.



Now watch a video about how the service works