Methods and apparatuses for authenticating communication devices and securely transmitting and/or receiving encrypted voice and data information. A biometric scanner, for example a fingerprint scanner, is utilized for authenticating the communication device and for generating the encryption key. The fingerprint scanner can be an area or swipe type of scanner is registered to a particular user and has unique intrinsic characteristics (the scanner pattern) that are permanent over time and can identify the scanner even among scanners of the same manufacturer and model. The unique scanner pattern of the scanner generates a unique encryption key that cannot be reproduced using another fingerprint scanner.