Communication Security Group: Enabling Secure Communications in Zero Trust Environments

Office environments will not be the same in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, where the notion of working remotely or from home has been largely embraced by organizations, both public and private. With more staff “teleworking”, companies must be aware of how a decentralized workforce with a communication infrastructure primarily designed to support an on-premise workforce can increase the risks that organization will face. “There are many critical vulnerabilities inherent with cell phones and cellular networks that put an organization’s privacy and confidentiality at risk. Understanding and preventing these risks is critical to protecting their business, employees, clients, and customers,” says Adam Such II, President and COO of Communication Security Group Inc. (CSG), a global leader and innovator in secure mobility.

With millions of employees now working from home, experts are drawing attention to a new wave of cyberattacks, focusing on everything from VPNs and public internet networks to end-user hardware including laptops and cellular devices. Even before Covid-19 changed the work landscape, bad actors ranging from cybercriminals to corporate espionage and even state-sponsored hackers were actively targeting vulnerabilities for their own ends. “The current global health emergency has greatly increased the volume of these activities, their targets and the cost of failure,” explains Such.

For example, teams unfamiliar with working from home may decide to use consumer “freemium” messaging tools, unaware of the risks. “Such apps do not offer anywhere near the level of encryption or security required by the enterprise, with call spoofing, hacking and eavesdropping all too common,” says Such. With freemium consumer messaging platforms, the user is the product, and organizations should read the app’s privacy terms before deciding how comfortable they are exposing their metadata to the app makers and their partners. It is for these reasons that analysts hold that a conversation over a freemium consumer app should be considered to be happening in a public space. As Such explains, even putting aside the various security issues, “these apps create a shadow IT, beyond management control. Anything that is shared over them is outside the organization’s purview, with no audit, archive or authentication functionality. This can create problems ranging from continuity and efficiency to regulatory compliance issues.”

Born out of government use and developed for the rigors of zero-trust environments, Cellcrypt by CSG is a secure communication platform trusted by governments and enterprise worldwide. The platform provides the highest level of protection against call and message interception, via a consumer-friendly app that can be used on virtually any off-the-shelf smartphone and tablet running on iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Designed with certified Suite B encryption and government-grade assurance, Cellcrypt is available for Windows and macOS, ensuring seamless, secure communication via desktops and laptops. The platform’s military-grade, end-to-end encryption ensures the complete confidentiality and authenticity of voice calls, messages and file sharing across any and all networks. “Cellcrypt is used to protect the most sensitive information at the highest levels of government, intelligence and military in four out of the Five Eyes (FVEY) intelligence alliance countries,” asserts Such. The platform works across any network (i.e. 2G EDGE, 3G, 4G, LTE, CDMA, 5G, SAT, WiFi, Tac Comms) and is transport and carrier agnostic. With assured message delivery and minimal bandwidth utilization, the company empowers secure organizational mobility.

Cellcrypt’s fully enterprise-ready set of solutions can be integrated into existing infrastructure without the need for additional hardware. Employees can simply download the app for immediate secure voice and message; but more than that, they can access instant conference calling which enables organizations to schedule mobile and desktop conference calling with automatic email invites, requiring no third-party administrator permissions or passwords.