There’s a surveillance proof phone on the market. Dubbed the ‘TaigaPhone”, it is created by Russia’s InfoWatch – a group of IT companies, which started off as a project by Kaspersky’s Lab.
The phone will offer anti-surveillance capabilities for enterprise customers who are concerned about privacy, and will cost about 15,000 rubles ($260, RM 1100), manufactured by Taiga Systems.
Moscow-based InfoWatch is owned and led by Natalya Kaspersky. “Half of all data loss in Russia happens on mobile devices, we intend to fix that problem with the TaigaPhone,” company rep Grigoriy Vasilyev told AFP.
According to Bloomberg, the first batch of 50,000 handsets, will be made in China and delivered to employees of state-owned Russian companies. It said the phone’s internal software has been designed to stop mobile apps from collecting or retaining personal data.
Prototyped back in 2015, Russian state media said that the mobile device could be made to only permit incoming calls and let users switch off the microphone. RT reported that it would “synergise with other tools” designed by InfoWatch.
The phone reportedly will run a modded version of Android. It’s unclear whether Taiga System’s main mobile security software, “Taiga Mobile Security” will be bundled with the new smartphone, although it is available online as a smartphone app.
Concerns grew revolving Russian government spying – including its demands that security ‘backdoors’ be inserted into security software to give its intelligence agencies easy access to stored domestic communications.
TaigaPhone has a potential to come to Malaysia, as reported by Bloomberg, noting “potential markets also include Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, where InfoWatch has opened offices”.
Source: International Business Times, Bloomberg, RT
