Can You Keep A Secret On Your Cell Phone?

By Tim McGuinness Ph.D. on January 30th, 2008

The new MicroSD TrustChip is just the thing for your secret cellphone calls. This one is perfect for those who work for top secret facilities and government agencies, or have the need to keep their conversations truly private, that really need a more secure way of communicating. Unless you’re just a few feet away from an eavesdropper with bionic ears, the call you made via your mobile phone will remain secret.

KoolSpan’s microSD Trust Chip can keep your deepest, darkest secrets. To use it, just make sure that the one you’re calling also has a TrustChip, accompanied with TrustChip Voice software, in his or her cell phone as well. If you both have TrustChips, you can chat with 256-bit AES encryption without worrying and without any help from a GSM network carrier. To verify, listen if the receiving phone chirps a series of dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) tones (like a modem) when the connection is made. DTMF tones perform the handshake and confirm the TrustChip identity, and send its phone number to the data channel. After that, the phones automatically disconnect. The calling phone calls back on the data channel to set up the secure call. Wait for a few seconds so both chips can settle the session keys for encryption.

Each chip has Windows Mobile and Symbian wireless OS codecs embedded and draws power from the host device. But all the processing power needed for the encryption is supported by that little chip. This amazing product costs around $300, which makes it very affordable. But it can definitely keep a secret.