Dust Mobile shields sensitive mobile communications

At the genesis of Dust Mobile, there were telecoms and network specialists with experience in several Airbus Defense or Thales companies. In 2017, these experts start from the observation that “there is no longer any trust or sovereignty in mobile communications”, recalls Jean-Michel Henrard, founder of the French start-up. And to mention the various flaws in the 3G and 4G networks discovered in particular on certain protocols (SS7, Diametr, SIP), the ability to intercept messages as in the context of IMSI Catcher, to be able to carry out DDoS attacks. We can also note the suspicions of espionage on Chinese equipment manufacturers.

So many breaches that require a response, especially with the development of the Internet of connected objects. Dust Mobile has chosen the path of strong authentication and tunneling on the lower layers, unlike existing solutions which address the application level. “We rely more on the L2 / L3 transport layer which works with any terminal”, specifies the manager. Based on this observation, he imagined an offer based on several elements. The first is a rugged SIM card “manufactured by Thales and developed by Dust Mobile” and including several security elements such as an encryption accelerator.

A package for all businesses

In the second place, Dust Mobile wants to be “master of transport” by being an operator having entered into agreements to use the network of 684 operators in the world. That number is expected to reach 810 by the end of the year. To ensure security, it installs an MPLS link between these different actors. Then the flows pass through a platform based in France to verify that the communication is not compromised. “This could for example be the analysis of the microphone buffer to check that no one is listening”, slips Jean-Michel Henrard.

Very focused on cyber defense, Dust Mobile has since broadened its offer by offering its Wide package that the founder describes as “secure and resilient”. On this last point, he cites the example of crisis management, “continuity is guaranteed thanks to a network of trust”. This package includes unlimited voice and SMS and includes, depending on the price, a volume of data ranging from 5 to 100 GB. On the price side, it takes 59 € HT for 5 GB and 79 € HT for 50 GB, to which must be added the price of the SIM card (89 € HT). With this proposal, Dust mobile intends to attract customers from banking, finance but also in health.