History of Encryption
QGOV has a lengthy history developing and launching wireless instruments that incorporate secure voice and data capability. Immediately after the 9/11 disaster, QGOV fielded the first solution for secure voice communications on a CDMA cellular network, the QSec-800. Then, the only product of its kind that addressed the need for secure wireless voice on a CDMA network, it passed the rigorous carrier and NSA-certification testing and was deployed on a 2G network, giving credentialed users the ability to interoperate with other secure devices at levels up to and including Top Secret.
Several years later, QGOV followed up with a 3G successor product – the QSec-2700, expanding the user reach to include CDMA networks of both 800 and 1900 MHz, maintaining its classified status at the TS level and continuing compliance with NSA interoperability standards. The QSec-2700 also featured low speed data encryption, a color display, and significant software upgradeability. Initially provisioned for voice encryption that relied on an operator’s circuit switched service option for call completion, it was shortly thereafter optioned with the ability to complete secure VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls; again, the only NSA-certified instrument of its kind to do so.
Because of QGOV’s ability to provide robust digital wireless solutions, it was chosen by the US government to develop and manufacture the replacement instrument for secure in-vehicle voice communications for use in the executive branch’s limousine fleet. Purpose-built and based on the QSec-2700 advances, QGOV’s Executive Car Kit (ECK) was delivered in production quantities to the customer within approximately six months from contract finalization.
Building upon our secure wireless engineering development expertise, we are now addressing a growing market demand for a non- Type 1 encrypted voice application on a commercial, cost-effective cellular phone. QTrust, initially developed as a BREW application, can be downloaded over the air by authorized Federal and State government personnel and seamlessly launched on-demand to establish a secure VoIP call between two QTrust users, using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) for user registration and call setup. QTrust is a FIPS 140-2 Level 1 NIST-certified, strong encryption commercial cell phone application that uses AES 256-bit encryption, Elliptic Curve key exchange, and generates unique keys for each call. QTrust, slated for launch as the only BREW application of its kind, will be available on the Verizon Wireless nationwide network in Summer, 2009.
Current users of QGOV secure wireless voice and data products include US Military, DHS, DOJ, US Congressional and Cabinet-level members, and the Office of the President of the United States.