Free phone and text-message encryption software that has until now been available mostly to U.S. users can now be used in Egypt, according to the security researcher who developed it.
The researcher, who goes by the name Moxie Marlinspike, released the software last year for use in the United States through his company Whisper Systems, and has been working on making it available for international users. He hasn't reached that stage yet. But with the recent wave of political protests in Egypt -- where activists have relied on mobile phones to organize and document their struggle -- he and his team were motivated to work on bringing the software to Egyptians quickly.
"This release is targeted just for Egypt, but sets the stage for worldwide support," Marlinspike told Threat Level. "Hopefully with stuff happening in Egypt it kind of steps things up [regarding distribution to other countries]."
The applications are currently only available for users of phones on the Android platform, but Marlinspike said they're working on development for BlackBerry and iPhone devices as well.
The phone software, called RedPhone, allows users to have end-to-end secure communications with other callers who are using the same software. The text-message encryption software, called TextSecure, provides end-to-end encryption of text messages with callers using the same software, and also stores text messages in an encrypted database on the phone so they can't be accessed by someone else if the device is lost, stolen or seized by police.
Marlinspike, who is well respected in the computer security community, had firsthand experience with the latter situation last year when U.S. Custom and Border Protection agents at JFK airport in New York met him at the door of his plane as he was returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic. His laptop and two cell phones were seized by a forensic investigator, though they were returned to him later.
Users can download the encryption applications to their phone from the Whisper Systems site. The interfaces for both programs are identical to existing calling and text messaging applications on Android, Marlinspike said. The only difference is that when a user calls or texts another user and the software detects the presence of RedPhone or TextSecure on the receiver phone, a prompt will allow the callers to enable an encrypted communication session.
Marlinspike said that about 20,000 copies of RedPhone and 30,000 of TextSecure have been downloaded by U.S. users since the programs were released last year.
Photo: A man takes pictures with his cell phone on Tahrir, or Liberation Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday Jan. 31, 2011. (Ben Curtis/AP Photo)
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