14-Apr-2011 11:06

Is anyone listening in on your phone calls?

Are your wireless conversations fully secure from prying ears?

Could there be someone listening to your business or private calls?

Are we just being paranoid or are there justifiable concerns?

The truth sometimes does hurt, and sadly, if you are using wireless technology for your home & business calls, pretty much anyone with a receiver can connect and listen in to the analogue frequencies & your calls.

So, if you are using an analogue wireless phone you could be broadcasting to all & sundry (and worryingly to your competitors) your entire conversation.

Would you be safer using a digital phone?

Not really. Digital phone conversations can also be listened in to using sophisticated computer-based equipment that simply converts and transfers the digital signal back into analogue form.

Should this worry you?

Well, it’s really no big deal if you are just chatting to your mates about the latest amazing low-cost money-saving International call deals from SimplyFone or the prices of goods at the local Tesco or the new Groupon deal…

However, & realistically, there may be certain conversations and private information innocently provided in telephone calls that you’d certainly rather remain private!

Credit card orders & info, social security numbers or private medical information and of course and importantly business ideas & secrets that you’d prefer to remain between you and your caller…

Remember, no mobile phone conversation is ever completely secure.

However, there may be solutions…

Digital mobile phones or PCS (personal communication service) phones provides higher levels of security.

The latest, & increasingly sophisticated, new generation model mobile (& office) phones will almost certainly have higher levels of security features built-in, making it harder for those nosey intruders to listen in on your conversations.

The newest (& dearest) PCS phones take this security process a step further by actually scrambling the digital data before transmitting it across a range of radio frequencies.

The most efficient cellular scrambling technology, called Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), makes it almost impossible to hack into and intercept calls.

Happily, unless you are a Government official, State Leader or a Footsie executive, any digital phone that uses CDMA technology is far more security than you are ever likely to need.

Enhanced technology allows call-hackers many options to listen in to your phone calls..

Many new mobile-phone handsets can be used as microphones to record and transmit calls & for this reason many credit card companies, government agencies & trading companies with sensitive information will often not permit mobile-phones in their offices or will use technology to bar mobiles from working.

There are laws in place to protect us but to a determined hacker the law cannot do very much to impede these nasty predators.

Therefore, as ever, be vigilant and remember to use common sense to protect yourself, whenever and wherever possible...