TrustChip is placed into the micro SD slot of mobile devices and is “all-in-one key management, authentication and encryption,” according to the company’s website.
Silent Circle, and not Skype, has been independently verified to have end-to-end encryption of information without any back doors for wiretapping.
Cell phones are more difficult to protect but looking where the signal bar is and the letter/number designation showing connectivity, usually shows a few bars and 3G or 4G LTE. If it shows 2G or GPRS, that’s an initial sign you might be hacked.
OTR (for “off the record”) offers “end-to-end” encryption. The server only sees the encrypted version of your conversations, thwarting eavesdropping. To use OTR, both you and the person you’re chatting with need to use instant messaging software that supports it. For Apple users, a Mac OS X client called Adium, works with Google, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo’s chat networks, among others. Windows and Linux users can use Pidgin.