PREMIER League stars are signing up to a service that protects their intimate mobile phone conversations from being intercepted by hackers.
Celebrities are now more aware than ever of the threat from criminal hacking gangs, following the recent scandal at the News of the World.
But it’s not just those in the public eye that are being snooped on… more than 4,000 people have been identified by police as possible victims of phone hacking at the now defunct Sunday tabloid.
In the wake of the scandal, mobile phone users can now purchase a service with military strength encryption, to protect their confidential calls.
Southampton based Emerald Telecom is rolling out ‘www.secure-your-mobile.com’ as a global service.
Patrick Robinson, CEO of Emerald Technology Group, said: “Up until the advent of this service, mobile phone calls have been incredibly simple to intercept.”
“But this service will make a significant dent in the organised criminal elements that profit from hacking private information.
“It is already widely being used in the UK by high profile figures including Premier League footballers and other celebrities, to ensure 100% protection,” Mr Robinson said.
The SiRRAN Encrypted Core Technology encrypts, monitors and transports secure communications around the world. It is used by elite intelligence agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security.
Mr Robinson continued: “When travelling abroad, to areas considered high-risk, there’s no security, making your mobile calls wide open to interception, when roaming on another network.
“But with this service the connection is invisible to phone hackers, and even if it was visible, its military grade encryption makes it impossible to intercept your conversations.”
“The threat of voice interception is not an ‘if’, it is ‘a when, where and by whom?’” Mr Robinson warned.
Most long distance telephone communications go over the air waves, and any signals in the air can be easily intercepted using very cheap radio components.
Methods used by hackers include:
• Sniffing: Intercepting wireless data that is being broadcast on an unsecured network
• Spoofing: Using a homemade mobile phone tower antenna to spoof itself as a legitimate GSM network to intercept all outgoing calls
• Backhaul interception: Using microwave links to intercept calls
SiRRAN’s Secure Mobile has been named as a finalist in at the Counter Terror Expo Excellence Awards 2013 at London’s Olympia, on Wednesday 24th April and Thursday 25th April.
SiRRAN Communications will be supporting Emerald Technology Group on Stand B20 in the Cyber Security zone.
Mr Robinson and his team will be demonstrating to global experts, from the emergency services, government, military and intelligence & security services, how Secure Mobile protects against hacking.
Secure-your-mobile, which is 100% hack-proof, is available on Apple iOS and Google Android devices including tablets, is priced between £30 and £45 a month.
For further information, please visit: www.secure-your-mobile.com
