Secure Mobile Phone SIM Cards

Safety and security of personal data is a major concern these days whether in computers or mobile phones. Technology has become advanced now, and with the rise in cyber crimes, security of data has become a big issue. Probably, for this reason, the Government of India will be introducing encrypted SIM cards very soon

What are encrypted SIM Cards ??

Encrypted SIM cards are nothing but proxy SIM cards with digital certificates (which are unique to an individual) for mobile phones. Mobile phones are used for many personal and professional purposes. These days services including net banking, e-mailing etc have also become popular amongst people. Hence, it becomes important to keep personal data safe and secure even while transferring so that authentication and integrity of data are maintained. These proxy SIM cards allow secure communication over SMSes and e-mail and these digital certificates provide another layer of authentication on mobile communication. N Vijayaditya, Controller of Certifying Authority when asked about the project said, “To make India’s future in mobile banking and mobile transactions secure, we are recommending the certification of proxy SIM cards with digital certificates, which can be inserted on top of regular SIM cards. These will enable the signatures with emails and even SMSes sent via mobile phones."

The Problem :-

But, encrypted texts have larger size of the order of 256KB as compared to regular text which is around 40-50KB. It is for this reason that encrypted texts might have higher charges. Even though, the information is accurate, its scope and application are unknown.