Munich, 21 March 2007 — According to estimates, the annual damage caused by industrial espionage in Germany alone amounts to billions of euros. To safeguard their know-how, security-conscious companies are already protecting their sensitive communications infrastructure against attacks by using appropriate equipment. However, mobile phones will remain vulnerable to eavesdropping. For this purpose, Rohde & Schwarz SIT GmbH presented the prototype of its new mobile encryption unit TopSec MED at CeBIT. In future, this encryption unit will allow companies and government authorities to make tap-proof phone calls via GSM, UMTS, or satellite. The TopSec MED can therefore be connected to virtually any Bluetooth®-capable mobile phone as well as other platforms. Rohde & Schwarz SIT GmbH has already set standards in the field of secure mobile radio in GSM networks. With the worldwide first TopSec GSM crypto mobile phone, the TopSec product family, which has up to now been suitable for analog and ISDN voice and data channels, was expanded in a useful way. However, in recent years the mobile radio market has developed rapidly and new standards such as UMTS are gaining ground. With the TopSec MED, the German market leader in cryptography is now presenting a flexible solution for all mobile radio technologies such as GSM, UMTS, or Thuraya (satellite radio). Unlike the TopSec GSM, the TopSec MED is a handy encryption unit that is independent of the mobile phone. The TopSec MED can be connected to virtually any mobile phone via Bluetooth, provided it has a Bluetooth interface. During mobile use, the TopSec MED allows encrypted phone calls even via analog and digital landline networks, provided they are protected with interoperable encryption units from the TopSec product family. Speaking and listening is via the microphone and loudspeaker of the TopSec MED. The connection to the network is still made by the mobile phone. The security of the communication is provided during the entire transmission, which begins with the person speaking into the TopSec MED microphone and ends at the loudspeaker of the other call partner. The mobile voice encryption unit is ideal for all professions for which the confidentiality of phone calls is essential. This includes persons in managerial positions, sales, and other know-how carriers in a company, as well as attorneys or financial consultants. In addition, the TopSec MED has been approved by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) for the transmission of information classified RESTRICTED. Thus, it can also be used by politicians and employees in government authorities. The mobile TopSec MED crypto front end from Rohde & Schwarz SIT will be available at the end of 2007.