Zimmermann Strikes Again
Philip Zimmermann is applying encryption to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to prevent the Russian mafia, foreign governments, hackers, disgruntled former employees, and just about anyone from tapping your VoIP calls.
He invoked the wrath of the US Government a few years ago when releasing his source code to PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and showed how to hook it up with email. This was at a time when The US Government regarded cryptographic software as a munition, and thus subject to arms trafficking export controls. Eventually the Government call off the dogs.
The Forbes posting How To Make Your Phone Untappable, is an interview with Philip Zimmermann.
In the posting, he discusses why he released Zfone software for secure voice communication over the Internet (VoIP), using the ZRTP protocol.
So you’ve created a protocol that not even thousands of NSA agents working for years could unscramble?
Well, they’re using computers, not people. In fact, they’re using supercomputers that attempt every possible key. But they wouldn’t be able to guess the key to decrypt a ZRTP-encrypted conversation.
In fact, they’re using the same kind of encryption for their own classified data. If they knew how to break it, they probably wouldn’t trust it enough to use it themselves.
…John
