Maybe you’re a businessman concerned about trade secrets being leaked. Or maybe you’re secretly corresponding with a hot fling (shame on you if you’re married). Perhaps you’re just another of the millions of paranoid people who don’t want Big Brother listening in.
Are you aware that with today’s technology, telephone conversations—yes, even with supposedly secure digital cellular networks—can be easily wiretapped? Law enforcement agents and even unscrupulous individuals with the tech know-how can tap into your telco and listen in to your phone calls. If you’ve seen spy movies like Will Smith’s Enemy of the State, you’ll know what I mean.
VoIP may just be the tool for you, then. Many VoIP providers offer secure, encrypted service without the trouble or the cost of acquiring expensive encryption equipment. What’s great is that most of these are even free! Take Skype, for instance. Did you know that Skype uses 256-bit AES encryption? That means that if you and your correspondent are both using Skype, it will take eavesdroppers-to-be 1.1 x 1077 possible combinations (that’s 11 with 77 zeroes after) to try before being able to hack into your voice conversation or instant messaging. Your call will be long over before anyone can brute-force hack into your network connection.
Just be sure you don’t do anything bad. VoIP can be secure, but it can’t save you from being caught perpetrating a crime.