Earlier this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, German cybersecurity company Sikur, launched SIKURPhone, a smartphone designed to protect data as well as cryptocurrency.
Sikur’s new encrypted smartphone has been tried and tested by hackers, to ensure users’ cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are safe from theft.
Such a device may have only appealed to those carrying around delicate corporate data or sensitive government documents a few years ago.
But in today’s world of hackers, set on trying their luck in a cryptocurrency market worth over $460 billion, a lot more people have a lot more to lose.
SIKURPhone is ultimately a practical choice rather than a flashy one — the specs remain mediocre and nowhere near those of a flagship item.
A little smaller than an iPhone, the device has a 5.5-inch full high definition ‘gorilla glass’ display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera.
Where it does stand out from the crowd is in its “unhackable” built-in cryptocurrency wallet, tailored to safeguard digital coins, such as Bitcoin. The company is so confident about its new device that it even put it to the test, hiring professional hackers to do “rigorous hacking tests for two months.” Hackers ultimately failed to break in.
SIKURPhone essentially runs on Android, although it is an altered version that provides the basics: calls, messages, document storage, etc. As for third-party apps, such as Instagram and Facebook, they will eventually be accessible but not before being vetted for privacy concerns by the company.
According to Sikur, the phone’s fingerprint authentication function can also be used to recover personal data in the case of a lost device or a forgotten password.
Cristiano Lop, Sikur’s CEO, told CNBC about what’s to come for the cybersecurity company.
“At the end of second quarter of 2018 we will deliver a crypto wallet inside our platform, expanding the wallet use beyond SIKURPhone,” said Lop. “It means that our customers should be able, through a physical device, to securely store their cryptocoins.”
Sikur has planned 20,000 SIKURPhones for pre-order, retailing at $799, with delivery scheduled for August 2018. Pre-sales began Tuesday, via the Sikur website at www.sikur.com.