The legal battle between the FBI and Apple has re-ignited the debate over privacy and security. As Reno Public Radio’s Noah Glick reports, a Nevada phone maker is taking the side of user privacy.
For 11 years, Nevada-based ESD America has been selling a phone, called a Cryptophone, that they say can’t be spied on.
Buzz Bruner is the director of strategy for the company and chatted with our media partner, KNPR in Las Vegas.
“It’s a custom device, a custom Android phone that we have replaced the standard Android operating system with our own hardened operating system and our own custom encryption," Bruner says. "So the communication between one Cryptophone and another Cryptophone is truly secured.”
Bruner says Cryptophones also come with another valuable security function.
“If you’re making a call on a Cryptophone to a phone that is not a Cryptophone and there is a rogue or fake cell tower, the Cryptophone will alert the user that their phone call is potentially being intercepted," Bruner says.
With a hefty price tag of $3,000, the Cryptophone is not for everyone. Bruner says that so far, they’ve been sold mostly to top government officials and CEOs.