News of a SIM scandal broke last week, as it was posited that American and British intelligence agencies hacked into SIM cards produced Dutch company Gemalto. Gemalto is the largest producer of SIM cards in the world.
On Wednesday, Gemalto, revealed that while the U.S. and U.K. governments could have been responsible for attempting to hack the company in 2010 and 2011, their attempt was not successful, as the company has many layers of encryption .
If the intelligence agencies had succeeded in hacking, they would have been able to listen to user's call without getting permission from telecommunications carriers.
However, before celebrating, it is important to note that Gemalto has admitted that there are weaknesses in its 2G technology, telling its carriers to take extra care to protect customers who are using their SIM cards on 2G and prepaid lines. Which is great news for anyone in the Middle East where 3G and 4G networks are not always the norm.
So in the vein of thinking, here are the best ways to communicate on your phone, to prevent governments from spying. Plural because, remember, we are in the Middle East.
,- Facetime and iMessage
In an article with TechCrunch, American Civil Liberties Union senior policy analyst Chirs Soghoian explains that although Apple does not market itself this way, both of its Apple communications systems are very secure ways to send and receive messages.
All iMessages are encrypted, so even if Apple wanted to give the contents of your messages away, it would be impossible. Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, defended this feature last week .
,It is not as hack-proof as iMessage, but Soghoian says it is about 90 percent reliable, which is good for Android users.
,- Skype
Although Skype can be hacked, it is a better way to communicate than your typical landline. Also good for Android users.