Researcher offers free voice and text encryption app to Egyptians

The explosive situation in Egypt has mobilized many repression-hating individuals in the world to try to do something to support the country’s citizens in their efforts to down the government and president Mubarak.

The last ones to join the fray is well-known security researcher Moxie Marlinspike and his team at Whisper Systems.

Last year, the company released RedPhone and TextSecure – free voice and text encryption software – for US Android users. The situation in Egypt motivated them to speed up the pace and make the applications available to Egyptians.

“If you have an Android cellphone registered to an Egyptian carrier, you can get a copy of RedPhone and TextSecure from this website. When you enter your mobile number in the form below, we’ll send you a text message that will let you download the software to your phone,” it says on their website.

This latest release is only the beginning – the company plans to make it available worldwide. According to Wired, they are also working on versions for iPhone and BlackBerry users.

Marlinspike’s intention is to provide the protesters ways to keep in touch without having their communications monitored by the authorities.

Once RedPhone and TextSecure are installed on the device, users can make secure, voice-over-Internet phone calls and send encrypted text messages to other users that have the applications installed. Beside encrypting the messages in transit, TextSecure also makes sure that the messages stored on the device are encrypted and inaccessible to anyone in case of loss or seizure of the device.