BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, based in Waterloo, Ontario, reported earlier this month it had shipped a record 7.8 million devices in the quarter ended Feb. 28 and surpassed an all-time total of 50 million devices. The BlackBerry is the standard device for users in the high-level executive market that Cellcrypt targets, especially in North America.

Security researchers the encryption used for standard GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) voice traffic has been compromised. Hackers could break into GSM networks in about 30 minutes, with inexpensive tools, and listen to calls from 20 miles away, some researchers said last year.

Cellcrypt avoids this airborne hacking as well as illicit tapping of the wired networks behind cellular base stations, according to Meakin. It avoids the traditional circuit-switched network altogether by using VoIP, and encrypts the VoIP packets with 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and 2048-bit Diffie-Hellman encryption. This encrypts the call all the way from one phone to the other, Meakin said. In addition to cell-to-cell calls, Cellcrypt can be used for calls to fixed-line phones, and the company also offers a gateway application for use with enterprise PBXs (private branch exchanges).