Telegram Disputes Russia's Claim Its Encryption Was Compromised

Russia's domestic intelligence agency claimed Saturday that Ukraine can obtain sensitive information from troops using the Telegram app on the front line, reports Bloomberg. The fact that the claims were made through Russia's state-operated news outlet RIA Novosti signals "tightening scrutiny over a platform used by millions of Russians," Bloomberg notes, as the Kremlin continues efforts to "push people to use a new state-backed alternative." Russia's communications watchdog limited access to Telegram — a popular messaging app owned by Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov — over a week ago for failing to comply with Russian laws requiring personal data to be stored locally. Voice and video calls were blocked via Telegram in August. The pressure is the latest move in a long-running campaign to promote what the Kremlin calls a sovereign internet that's led to blocks on YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp... Foreign intelligence services are able to see Russia's military messages in Telegram too, Russia's Minister for digital development, Maksut Shadaev, said on Wednesday, although he added that Russia will not block access to Telegram for troops for now.

Telegram responded at the time that no breaches of the app's encryption have ever been found. "The Russian government's allegation that our encryption has been compromised is a deliberate fabrication intended to justify outlawing Telegram and forcing citizens onto a state-controlled messaging platform engineered for mass surveillance and censorship," it said in an emailed response.

Re:Snowden leaks...

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

Then telegram must have been "compromised" using Obama's time machine, as the chat service was launched after the Snowden leak.

But you can still post the link to the leaked document that claims telegram was compromised, of course.

Re:

[OldMugwump]

If true, it's easy for the Russians to prove. Just show a decrypted message. If they haven't done that, I say they're lying. Probably want to discourge Ukrainians from using it on the battlefield. Because the Russians *can't* crack it.

Weakening the Russian military is a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks to the brilliance of Putin and his minions, cutting off Telegram means frontline Russian troops are effectively unable to communicate [kyivpost.com] with one another [kyivindependent.com]. This in turn has allowed Ukraine to make limited counter-attacks to reclaim over 300 square kilometers of territory. Not much in the grand scheme, but it took Russia months and thousands of dead and wounded to move that far, and in one week Ukraine took it all back.

This cutoff is compounded by the severing of unregistered Starlink terminals used by

Re:

[Slayer]

You may conflate Russia's block of Telegram service and Starlink's sudden disconnection of Russian users. I would suggest, that the latter rather than the former was the main reason for the success of Ukraine's counter attack.

There still is SigInt

[gweihir]

The mere fact that data gets transferred over phones is already a problem in a war.

Do I think Telegram encryption is compromised? No. It is pretty much impossible to break competently done encryption today. And I highly doubt they placed backdoors. Even a possibility for a NoBus backdoor would have been identified and been a big deal.

Re:

[znrt]

It is pretty much impossible to break competently done encryption today.

let's say we don't know how to do that ... yet. but we do know about several ways to compromise phones. and we tacitly know there are ways we still don't know. if you have access to the app encryption might not be a problem.

And I highly doubt they placed backdoors.

it may not need a backdoor. insider knowledge and some 0-day to get in might go a long way. both exist.

Re:

[gweihir]

FUD is one hell of a drug. For some people.

Let's say we stop doping FUD and actually look at what is known.

This proves the Russians haven't cracked it

[OldMugwump]

They can't break it, and Ukranian troops are using it.

So - discredit Telegram. Obvious.

Russia - want to convince us? SHOW US A DECRYPT. If your claim is true this should be easy.

Re:This proves the Russians haven't cracked it

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

Actually, the ruzzkie problem with telegram is the Russian content on tg and not the way Ukrainians use it.

There are tens of thousands Russian channels with large followings, many of them local, all run by Russians in Russian. They are quite effectively challenging the government propaganda that everything is fine. Tg channels and bots are routinely used to coordinate all kinds of activities that the ruling class doesn't approve of - e.g. protests against destruction of parks or natural areas for construction, collection of evidence of pollution or corruption of various kinds, including corruption in the military, which is quite rampant, etc. Moreover, since it is considered "Russian", closing it down was and is still politically unacceptable even to hardcore putinists. It is trusted to not leak to the FSB and is widely used, getting in the way of the push for the adoption of the government-built and thoroughly cracked by design Maks messenger.

So, yes, it has been condemned and this is just a part of the campaign against it

Re:

[quonset]

Undoing a mod.

Re:

[test321]

Russia - want to convince us? SHOW US A DECRYPT.

Russia is not claiming they can decrypt, but that Ukraine or NATO can.

Re:

[test321]

I agree with you the claim is false, and your argument "Ukranian troops are using it" is even part of a proof. Why would Ukraine take the risk of using it if it was so easy to break? Also if the Russian claim that "Foreign intelligence services are able to see Russia's military messages" was true, Russia should implement a full block and serious penalties for any detected usage, not just this mild suggestion.

I'm not sure he expects Russians to believe that, it's just a way to signal they now disapprove Tele

The encryption is fine.

[An Ominous Cow Erred]

I'm sure that statement is correct in that the encryption algorithm itself is secure, but there is probably a backdoor that got put in when the French government arrested the CEO, then mysteriously released him.

Re:

[bleedingobvious]

Telegram has admitted to handing over data. On more than one occasion. Israel and Germany, IIRC?

Same with Meta

Signal/OWS remains the better option. Not 100% perfect but still a damned sight more robust.

Re:

[coofercat]

Yeah, I'd like to switch to Signal, but bots are so hard there, where they're easy on Telegram. Getting alerts from my Home Assistant and elsewhere is pretty handy.

Re:

[ambrandt12]

Does anyone really think that any of the world's governments would allow any encryption scheme to be used that prevented them from seeing what was in the message/post?
Not to mention, the data runs through a company someplace, through the phone's data carrier, through the countries IP backbone that runs to the connection point for the fiber optic cable in the ocean (or to the satellite uplink as needed)... lot of points for the message to be copied and handed over to the intelligence community.

Telegram holds your keys :o

[Mirnotoriety]

Telegram holds your keys and doesn't implement end-to-end encryption. Except for Secret Chats and Telegram requires a phone number to register. and the founder was recently detained by the French.