Broadband Tech > Security > Security > Silent Circle Aims For Email That's As Secure As It Gets

PGP and Navy SEALs take on privacy

It's been 22 years since Phil Zimmerman, Jon Callas and the rest of the PGP crew brought encryption to the masses for free, and now the same team – augmented by backing from a couple of former Navy SEALs – has expanded into a new privacy concern that will launch an email service in a couple of weeks.

Two of the key backers, including CEO Mike Janke, are former US Navy SEALs who saw a need for this kind of secure communication.

Silent Circle came out of stealth mode last June with a $20 (£13) per month package for voice, text, and video services that are encrypted by an application on a user's smartphone, tablet or computer. Users download the software and all traffic is handled by the company's own servers.

Encryption keys are set up on each device using the application and are then discarded once the message has been completed, so that they cannot be slurped. To further protect against wiretapping, the firm's servers that handle traffic are located in Canada and Switzerland, with an Asian location to be decided.

Now the company is moving into email, with an encryption system based on decades of encryption experience and the desire for private communications. Based on the team's background, there's good reason to believe it will be successful.

To further test the system's mettle, Silent Circle has put its source code up on Github for analysis by the security community. So far, Callas said, three possible problems have been found. None of them were serious, and all have since been fixed or ameliorated.

The new email service will take the best of this encryption, plus some extra special sauce and tools from PGP, and aims to offer secure service to subscribers across the world.

Intelligence agencies are pushing for an extension of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to require an automatic backdoor into communications software of this type. A legislative push in the area is expected later this year.

...I'd robustly encrypt them locally and then embed them steganographically into a seemingly innocent image,...