USMobile launches Scrambl3 mobile, Top Secret communication-standard app

Scrambl3 background
USMobile says that in 2011 the company’s staff began meeting with the National Security Agency (NSA) on a new generation of secure mobile architecture. The “Fishbowl” (secure phone) initiative was designed to protect government Top Secret Classified Communication. Scrambl3, developed using the latest NSA standards for that new generation, is the world’s first, and so far theonly, commercial implementation of those standards. The NSA has encouraged commercial development of secure mobile communications in to help American businesses protect their intellectual property (IP) from theft, estimated to result in billions of dollars worth of stolen trade secrets and IP.

Inside USMobile’s Dark Internet Tunnels, calls and texts made with Scrambl3’s Private Mobile Network are private and secure. For additional privacy and security, a user’s private network is not interconnected to standard mobile phone numbers, landlines, or any other segment of the publicly switched telephone network (PSTN) — thus avoiding U.S. government bulk surveillance programs which include PRISM and CALEA. The company stresses that while USMobile collaborated with the NSA on this new secure mobile architecture, USMobile then went on independently to develop its implementation of the architecture and source code; the NSA does not have a back door to USMobile’s Private Mobile Network.

“USMobile’s Scrambl3 has implemented the most salient security features of NSA’s ‘Fishbowl’ (secure phone) initiative secure Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) architecture, and has a number of unique characteristics that put it in a class ahead of existing commercial secure VoIP techniques,” said Dr. Yuliang Zheng. Zheng, a professor of cryptography at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte, conducted an independent analysis of Scrambl3 (see his complete analysis here).

The company says that today’s leading solutions/protocols to secure mobile communications (for example, SRTP and ZRTP) are missing the first step, which is the most critical and differentiating feature of Fishbowl, the creation of a Top Secret grade VPN Dark Internet Tunnel to cloak encrypted communication.

Instead of dialing up using traditional public phone numbers, Scambl3 users call or text using a private Scrambl3 Black Book contact listing available only to them and other users with whom they have privately shared their Scrambl3 name. A Private Mobile Network is only formed after both parties add each other’s Scrambl3 names to their respective Black Books. For more privacy, the contacts in each user’s Black Book will disappear when users log out of the Scrambl3 app on their phones.

Scrambl3’s approach to security
Scrambl3 employs encryption algorithms and Internet protocols, approved for Top Secret Classified Communication, to create encrypted voice, video, and data communication. All encrypted communication is cloaked by placing it within USMobile Dark Internet Tunnels, which are Virtual Private Networks that employ U.S. National Security Agency’s Top Secret Suite B encryption and authentication parameters, part of the NSA’s new generation Fishbowl (secure phone) initiative.

For additional security, no messages, voicemails, or call data are stored on Scrambl3 servers, or any other servers. Encryption is maintained end-to-end, providing uninterrupted security of communication traveling between two communicating parties. Scrambl3 users have several deletion and security options to keep private Scrambl3 messages on their phone, including auto-delete and integration with Samsung Knox, which will encrypt the messages until they are deleted from the phone.

Scrambl3 users can make calls on their Private Mobile Network using both cellular 3G/4G data plans and Wi-Fi.

“In our brave new world, where the details of our lives and businesses are becoming increasingly public through social media, sophisticated marketing techniques and government surveillance, we are seeing a trend toward protecting our privacy,” Hanour said. “We believe privacy is the future, and while people are connecting in positive ways through social networks, we are also seeking privacy solutions to keep our mobile calls and texts confidential.”