Are drug dealers using encryption on their mobiles?

Police powerless

If drug dealers could get hold of this technology, it would make wire-taps pointless

Drug dealers could run their criminal operations with impunity, if encryption technology was used by their mobile henchmen. Should we be afraid?

Encryption technologies are used on a day to day basis in order to protect all of us from unwanted misuse of our critical data:

Online banking uses encryption technologies to prevent criminals intercepting financial transactions and clearing our bank accounts
Bank cards and ATM machines use cryptography to protect transaction interception
Internet commerce sites uses encryption technologies to stop online bandits from intercepting and misusing our credit card information
Encryption technologies are used to protect company sensitive information

But if this technology fell intothe hands of drug dealers, they could use it to avoid prosecution. is that going to happen? Andy Churley, at security vendor Cellcrypt, is happy with the situation.

Encryption technologies are everywhere; everyone who has a web browser has encryption capabilities, he writes. PCs come with encryption as standard; even mobile phones and PDAs hold encryption keys to secure email and web traffic. The vast majority of such uses are for legitimate purposes, but of course such technologies can be used by criminals in order to try to prevent authorities from intercepting their activities.

So should there be a ban on the use of encryption technologies in order to prevent criminals and terrorists attempting to hide their activities from the authorities? Cellcrypt, a leading supplier of encryption-based voice security solutions, doesn’t think so and neither do most government authorities. Banning a day-to-day technology because it could cause damage also results in the banning of its positive uses. In reality, the benefits of advanced consumer technologies almost always outweigh the negatives. If we took a ‘ban it’ approach we’d ban the use of the internet as well along wit white vans and fertilizer. Instead, we all need to be aware of the potential for misuse and do what we can to prevent it.

In the UK, the Government takes a responsible and realistic view on the use and sale of cryptographic products to legitimate individuals and companies globally and have export control regulations for cryptographic solutions to which Cellcrypt and other UK Security companies have to comply.

Andy Churley, Cellcrypt