The Russian company Taiga Systems is developing its own smartphone with a secure version of Android. The device is only targeted at business users, administrators can freely switch functionality on and off.
"No information from the device, photos, documents, telephone conversations, location data, can leak without the user's knowledge", said co-owner Taiga Systems Alex Nagorny. "This is not a ready-made solution, but a device completely made by us, custom design, engineering and circuit design."
Administrators can switch off the microphone and camera or turn off the internet connection meaning users can only make phone calls. The latter can also be turned off so an user can only see who's calling.
Another feature is that the phone is really shut down when turned off. According to Nagorny other phones are in standby when turned off. In that state the GSM module will still be active and "record your location on base stations", Nagorny said, "we have solved this problem. There is a special solution that allows you to completely turn off the phone."
In case an application tries to turn on the microphone or tries to send a message, the phone will show a visual alarm, notifying the user of the possible security breach.
The phone will feature the Google Play Store to download apps, as the company considers it pretty safe. Nagorny states about this, "the real threat comes from alternative stores. Many users are infected with malware when downloading applications from unofficial sources."
Phones of other manufacturer might also receive the same features. According to Nagorny he is in talks with a number of device manufacturers about installing the Taiga firmware on smartphones of third-party companies.
One of the people behind the mother company of Taiga, InfoWatch, is Natalya Kaspersky, one of the founders and former chairwoman of Russian security company Kaspersky Labs. The phone resembles that of the Black Phone, a smartphone designed for privacy.
