Dr. Paschalis Papagrigoriou, who developed a security smartphone for the German government which was dubbed "Merkelphone" by the press as early as 2009, is the inventor of a microSD based smartcard which is meanwhile used by all smartphone security vendors. He takes pride in stating that the system he developed maintains a strong security for phone data such as contacts and email messages which has to this date not be compromised neither by the NSA not any other service. "Encrypting the voice transmission had not been ordered. So it is solely in other vendors' responsibility if the NSA could listen in. But whatever type of device may have been tapped, it has definitely nothing to do with the still secure original 'Merkelphone'!"
Not only the public sector, but also enterprises and small and medium businesses had to learn painfully through the NSA disclosures that their IT infrastructure is becoming increasingly vulnerable, which according to recent surveys makes them finally set out to search for effective security solutions.
In unison with the European IT security industry, Dr. Papagrigoriou understands the NSA scandal as a wakeup-call and a great opportunity for both vendors and users of products aiming at higher mobile and communication security.
"The microSD smartcard was one very important first step, yet it fails to solve the problem of smartphones becoming more and more vulnerable as a result of their complex operating systems which cannot be secured without compromising their usability in return. This is why we have long begun concentrating on dedicated security hardware and will shortly start introducing innovative solutions to a broader public", Papagrigoriou explains.
The expert who has a background of many years in highly secure communication technology, two years ago quit contributing to the "Merkelphone's" next phase development and began to build the new engineering firm in Switzerland named EMPELOR, which according to Papagrigoriou is at the verge of unveiling totally new and potentially disruptive security solutions for all user segments - public, enterprise and the consumer market.
Not only the public sector, but also enterprises and small and medium businesses had to learn painfully through the NSA disclosures that their IT infrastructure is becoming increasingly vulnerable, which according to recent surveys makes them finally set out to search for effective security solutions.
In unison with the European IT security industry, Dr. Papagrigoriou understands the NSA scandal as a wakeup-call and a great opportunity for both vendors and users of products aiming at higher mobile and communication security.
"The microSD smartcard was one very important first step, yet it fails to solve the problem of smartphones becoming more and more vulnerable as a result of their complex operating systems which cannot be secured without compromising their usability in return. This is why we have long begun concentrating on dedicated security hardware and will shortly start introducing innovative solutions to a broader public", Papagrigoriou explains.
The expert who has a background of many years in highly secure communication technology, two years ago quit contributing to the "Merkelphone's" next phase development and began to build the new engineering firm in Switzerland named EMPELOR, which according to Papagrigoriou is at the verge of unveiling totally new and potentially disruptive security solutions for all user segments - public, enterprise and the consumer market.
