Cellcrypt boosts phone call security

The service is widely used by governments to secure voice calls

Voice security company Cellcrypt has launched technology designed to secure voice calls between smartphones and landlines.

The Cellcrypt PBX Gateway integrates with existing IP PBXs to enable encrypted voice calls to be made from landlines to smartphones running the Cellcrypt Mobile software, and between landlines which both have the gateway installed, according to the firm.

Cellcrypt claims it is able to offer high quality, high availability and high security with the solution, which will help firms and government organisations enhance the security of voice calling without large investments in new infrastructure or devices.

The vendor also said its technology is currently undergoing certification to the FIPS 140-2 standard approved by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The service has been used by government authorities worldwide for some time now, but is beginning to attract interest from the private sector, according to Cellcrypt chief executive Simon Bransfield-Garth.

The firm has had interest not just from the traditional financial and legal markets but also less obvious areas such as oil exploration and NGOs, he said.

"Confidential information is communicated at least as much in standard telephone calls as it is in written documents," Bransfield-Garth added. "This is not just commercially important information like contract negotiations and IP matters, but may also be information relating to the personal safety of staff."