Actu
Security Experts Report No One Stepped Up To Claim $250k in Pure Gold
February 2010 by Marc Jacob
Gold Lock, a provider of military-grade secure mobile communications devices and data encryption tools, announced the end of the $250,000 Gold Challenge. The provider of secure cellular and data transmission products had offered the prize to anyone that was able to provide a transcript of an encrypted cellular conversation contained in a file on the company’s website. Although over 5000 of people and companies ranging from hackers to highly technical members of international intelligence communities gave it their best effort, no one succeeded.
In October of 2009, Gold Lock CEO Noam Copel announced the company’s intention to award a $100,000 prize. That amount was increased to a quarter of a million dollars in December in order to attract even more participants. But all along, Mr. Copel was confident he would not be awarding the prize.
“Even my CFO, who is normally a conservative person when it comes to managing the company’s money, didn’t flinch when I asked him to book $250,000 to cash reserves to cover the cost of the gold. Like me, he knew there was a zero chance of anyone being able to defeat our encryption algorithms,” Mr. Copel said.
All of Gold Lock’s products employ leading-edge technology so powerful it is licensed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense. For example, when encrypting voice calls, Gold Lock automatically changes the encryption keys multiple times for each call, a feature that makes it virtually impossible to zoom in on a specific set of keys and decrypt the call. Gold Lock’s offerings include a line of encryption-enabled cell phones as well as a variety of products used to encrypt data communications, file transfers, email, and more.
In business since 2003, the company has earned a reputation in government, public, and private sectors for providing comprehensive end-to-end IT and cellular encryption solutions. In a time where organizations and individuals face regular threats from terrorists, kidnappers, hackers and other criminals, as well as unwarranted intrusion from their own and foreign government agencies, protecting data and cellular communications has become a high priority.
Mr. Copel points out that the technology needed to purchase or build voice and data interception devices can be had from online suppliers for a few hundred dollars. This means that anyone from a neighbor’s teenager to a business competitor or worse can know as much about a person or business as is revealed online and over a cellular phone. And for most people, that’s quite a lot of information.
The company makes it a point to let its customers know the complex technology that makes these products undefeatable is transparent to the user. Making a secure voice call is as simple as making a regular call. The software installed in the phone or on the computer does all the work.
The company has always claimed that its encryption algorithms were unbreakable. And now, despite offering $250k to prove the company’s claims wrong, that claim goes unchallenged.
