Spy Review

If you’ve got a big budget, or suffer from a little paranoia, then the GSM Crypt-a-Cell mobile phone conversation encryption device just might be your thing. The Crypt-a-Cell device is designed to encrypt incoming and outgoing voice communications in realtime to another mobile phone with a matching encryption/decryption device.

This device exploits the handsfree connectivity of a mobile phone to encipher voice communications into digital noise that cannot be understood even if intercepted. The code changes with every call made or received, and with 256 bits of encryption strength, it will take a few years for even the best computers to crack. The Crypt-a-Cell device currently supports most of the popular Ericsson and Sony-Ericsson models, and the website provides a list of these compatible models.

Something that’s worth mentioning is that 99.9999% of mobile phones in use in the western world are now digital. This means you need equipment worth several hundred thousand pounds to intercept digital mobile phones. The GSM interception equipment is not even available to the public! Only military and government agencies have access to such equipment. It’s a popular misunderstanding that you can still use a common radio scanner to intercept mobile phones. This only worked around 10 years ago when nearly all cellular communications were using analogue signals.

So the Crypt-a-Cell device is a really nice idea, but unless you intend to hide something from the government, it’s not worth the money in my view! And the government will still have ways of finding out what information they need anyway!