Cellcrypt Launches Secure Cell Phone Conference Calling

Cellcrypt the leading provider of secure mobile
voice calling, today announced that it has launched a secure conference
service that provides both device authentication and voice call
encryption to participants using popular cell phones like BlackBerry®
and Nokia smartphones.





Organizations depend on conference
calls to run their daily operations and often discuss confidential and
highly sensitive information on calls such as sales, supplier and
executive management meetings, intellectual property discussions, high
value business deal talks, crisis management calls or even discussions
concerning disaster scenarios and national security.



But traditional conference calling
services are open to abuse through unauthorized access. Where access
security is in place for conference calls, it is often poorly managed
with dial-in details and PINs seldom changing. A commonly reported
scenario is for ex-employees to continue to access regular conference
calls or pass details to unauthorized personnel.



Furthermore, as participants have
become more dispersed, they often access conference calls using cell
phones, which are increasingly at risk of interception.



The Cellcrypt Secure Conference
Service both authenticates the participant’s cell phone and encrypts
conversations end-to-end between each participant and the conference
bridge, to ensure important conversations, from team briefings to board
calls, remain confidential.



“Conference calls by their very
nature typically contain some of the most sensitive and confidential
information an organization has,” said Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO at
Cellcrypt. “These calls are highly desirable to attackers, who know just
how valuable the information is. As the risk of cellular interception
has increased so has the vulnerability of mobile executives accessing
conference calls from the mobile phones. Organizations should urgently
review their communications practices and act to protect their
mission-critical conference calls.”



The conference calling service is
easy-to-use, with participants simply selecting a bridge number from
their Cellcrypt Mobile enabled Blackberry or Nokia smartphone to enter
the call. Office phones can also securely participate in conference
calls when connected via Cellcrypt’s Enterprise Gateway solution.



Organizations can manage conference
calls using a simple web console to define all users that may access the
conferencing service, create bridge numbers, define policies such as
user white lists and additional access PINs. Optionally, a bridge may
allow access from selected public payphone using Caller ID and PINs for
authentication in geographies where the threat of interception is
regarded as controlled (the call segments from public telephones are not
encrypted).



The service builds on Cellcrypt’s
existing solutions that provide encrypted voice calls on cell phones,
such as BlackBerry and Nokia smartphones, delivering government-grade
security in an easy-to-use application that makes highly secure calling
as easy as making a normal phone call. Utilizing the IP data channel it
supports all major wireless networks, Wi-Fi® and satellite. Encryption
is government-grade and certified to FIPS 140-2 standard by the US
National Institute of Standards and Technology.