NSA develops secure VOIP system

Security Agency (NSA) has developed an encrypted voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) communications system using commercial off-the-shelf components and an Android operating system, ZDNet reports.

One hundred US government employees participated in a pilot of Motorola hardware running encrypted VOIP, called 'Project Fishbowl'.

The phones were developed as part of the NSA's Mobility Programme, which was designed to respond to the growing need among government agencies for secure methods of communication, WebProNews states.

Although NSA does not want to be fixed to one mobile operating system platform, its investigations into suitable choices have so far led it to Google Android mainly because the NSA can change the underlying OS, CIO says.

Technical director in NSA's information assurance directorate, Margaret Salter, says in an ITProPortal report: "The beauty of our strategy is that we looked at all of the components, and then took stuff out of the (Android) OS we didn't need. This makes the attack surface very small.”