Security Company Offers Egyptian Android Users Free Call and SMS Encryption

Egyptian Android users can now download two apps that allow them to make secure phone calls and send encrypted text messages to one another for free.

The two applications, called RedPhone and TextSecure, were created by Whisper Systems, a company co-founded by renowned security researcher Moxie Marlinspike.

The software is free to use for non-commercial purposes and until now it was only available in the United States.

These new releases aimed at Egyptian users are the first international versions of the apps. At the moment they only work with carriers in Egypt, but the company plans to add support for other countries soon.

"When the protests started in Egypt, we stepped up our efforts to get it working there," Moxie Marlinspike told Forbes.

"Now we’re ready to release, and hopefully enable some pro-democracy advocates to communicate and coordinate without being surveilled."

RedPhone uses end-to-end encryption between devices that have it installed and the user doesn't even need to pay for minutes.

RedPhone routes all calls over the Internet, but unlike traditional VoIP systems, it is carefully designed for the mobile environment, where Internet access is not always active.

In most cases, if the phone is in sleep mode it cannot be reached by a VoIP call, because a permanent connection to the Internet is required.

RedPhone solves that problem by first making a secure request to a server maintained by Whisper Systems, which then sends an encrypted SMS to the other phone letting it know that someone is trying to establish a call.

Of course, all of this happens in the background and the user will see the phone ringing normally. The app supports both WiFi and 3G.

Unlike solutions like Skype, where the user needs to be logged into the application, RedPhone does not require any additional accounts and uses the normal phone numbers.

Meanwhile, TextSecure replaces the default text messaging application and stores all SMS messages securely in a database. Furthermore, when sending an SMS to another user of the app, the message is encrypted on the fly.

"[...] It seemed timely to get this to Egypt now. So that the people in the most demanding circumstance get something secure," the security researcher concluded.