Most of the threats in this generation are related to the security breach or privacy. With news of spying and security breaches spreading all over the world, it seems that privacy policy is everyone's top priority in this world.
Well the solution is also here - The Blackphone. Now the question is,
What is a Blackphone?
The Blackphone is a smartphone that is especially built to protect user's data. The Blackphone ensures security and the goal of it is to provide more privacy to the users.
As mentioned, privacy is one of the biggest threats in this world. So this Blackphone comes to the rescue, it encrypts emails, texts, calls, data browsing history and all the other features that come with the phone. This makes it sure that data from the phone will not get stolen and the privacy won't be affected at all.
The Blackphone was introduced to the world in 2014, which is developed by SGP Technologies, an owned subsidiary of Silent Circle.
A Blackphone comes with a bit higher price than many of the current smartphones. It shows a considerable change in how the manufacturers make and sell devices.
The Blackphone does its job best in the following departments:
- Secure high-definition conference calling and group messaging
- Burn timers automatically redact old messages
- Voice memos speed the communication & replace insecure voicemail
- Read receipts & delivery receipts provide your teams situational awareness
- Simple zero-touch deployment across your organization
- Securely send images, videos, documents, and other kind of files
- Silent World offers calling to/from traditional phone numbers with enhanced security
- The customized encrypted OS protects user data from outside parties
The Blackphone may not be "completely NSA proof", but it has definitely represented a move in the direction of more security and privacy for its users.
Apart from other things, the user gets secured cloud storage within the price of the Blackphone from SpiderOak, which is one of the partner services that come with the phone. The buyers get 2 years of free services by SpiderOak.
Now let's compare between Apple, Android and Blackphone in the following sections.
Can malware be distributed through apps?
Apple Android Blackphone
Yes Yes Yes
Can third parties access my private information?
Apple Android Blackphone
Yes Yes Highly Unlikely
Can my location be automatically tracked?
Apple Android Blackphone
Yes Yes No
Pros of Blackphone:
- No location tracking: It uses the operating system PrivatOS which is a custom-designed version of Android 4.4 that removes all geo-location functions and user tracking.
- Encryption: Its suite of applications which are created by Silent Circle automatically encrypt data interchanged with other users. Internet history is also encrypted and rendered anonymous through the Disconnect service.
- Remote wipe: Blackphone gives remote wipe feature which enables user to wipe or remotely delete all the data from the phone. It proves very effective if the phone is stolen or lost.
Cons of Blackphone:
- Loss of functionality: It lacks many functionalities and features that are supported by other smartphones.
- Third party app stores: Users have to use 3rd party app stores.
- Still unproven: Back in 2014, one of the security researchers at the BlackHat claimed that he gained unauthorized system privileges in just 5mins on a Blackphone.
Users are still given the facility to do less then secure things on the Blackphone. If they want, they can download Google apps which will definitely try to harvest user's data. The Blackphone will still generate a flag about certain type as a warning.
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