At the time of writing, Pavel Durov has been charged in France but has not yet appeared in court. The legal prospects of the case are very unclear, but scammers are already taking advantage of the interest and panic around Telegram, and dubious advice on what to do with the current situation app and its correspondence is circulating on social networks. Telegram users need to remain calm and act based on their specific use of the messenger and the available factual information. Here is what can be recommended today.
Confidentiality of correspondence and “keys to Telegram”
In short, most Telegram conversations are not private, and they always have been . If you have been conducting private conversations in current situation Telegram without using secret chats, consider them compromised long ago, and move further private communications to another messenger, for example, following these recommendations.
Many news channels assume that the main claim
The end-to-end encryption standard for other messengers ( WhatsApp , Signal , even Viber) is called “secret chat” in Telegram, it is quite difficult to find in the depths of the interface, and it is only available for manual activation in current situation individual correspondence. All group chats, all channels, as well as standard personal correspondence are deprived of end-to-end encryption and can be read at least on Telegram servers. Moreover, Telegram uses its own and completely non-standard MTProto protocol for both secret chats and everything else, in which serious cryptographic vulnerabilities have been found more than once . Therefore, Telegram correspondence can hypothetically be read by:
Telegram server administrators;
attackers who successfully hacked Telegram servers and placed spyware on them;
a third party that has received some kind of access from Telegram administrators;
a third party that has found cryptographic vulnerabilities in colombia whatsapp data Telegram protocols and is capable of selectively or completely reading at least “non-secret” chats by intercepting the traffic of some users.
Deleting correspondence
Some categories of users are advised to delete old correspondence in Telegramfor example, work-related. This advice seems controversial, because in current situation databases (and correspondence on the server is stored in databases) lines are rarely physically deleted, they are only marked as deleted. Moreover, Telegram, like any large IT infrastructure, theoretically should have a developed culture of data backup, so “deleted” messages will be saved at least in database backups. Perhaps, it will be more effective for both interlocutors (or the administrator for group chats) to completely delete the chat, but the issue of backups will remain in this case.
Backing up correspondence
Some observers have expressed concern that Telegram could be removed from app stores, blocked, or otherwise disrupted. While this scenario seems unlikely, backing up important correspondence, photos, and documents is a good idea as part of good digital hygiene.
To save important personal correspondence, you need to install Telegram on your computer ( the official client is here ), log in to your account through this application, and then in the current situation desktop Telegram settings, go to Settings → Advanced settings → Export data from Telegram .
How to export all data from Telegram
In the window that appears, you can select what data you want to export (only personal chats or group chats too, with or without photos and videos), set limits on the size of downloaded files, and select the data format – HTML, which can be viewed in any browser, or JSON for automated processing by third-party applications.
How to set up backup of all data from Telegram
Downloading the data to your computer may take several hours and require tens or hundreds of gigabytes of free space. Depending on how intensively you use Telegram and the export settings. You can close the export window. But don’t turn off the Telegram application itself or disconnect your computer from the Internet or power supply.
We recommend using only the backup function from the official client.
“Protection against Telegram removal” from smartphones
Apple does not remove apps from users’ smartphones, even if it removes them from the App Store. So the advice to protect Telegram from being removed is useless. Moreover, the recipe for “protection” via the Screen Time menu circulating on the current situation Internet. Does not protect apps from being removed by Apple. But restricts removal by the user – this function is related to parental control. Durov’s arrest sent an old rumor about Telegram being removed into a new circle. Which was officially denied by both Apple and Telegram in 2021.
Android also does not have a practice of deleting applications from Google, except for 100% malware. True, it is impossible to give such guarantees for all holders of their own ecosystems (Samsung, Xiaomi, etc.) But the Android application is easy to install directly from the Telegram website .
Alternative clients
There are indeed unofficial, but functional and legal clients for Telegram, and even an “official alternative client” Telegram X. All of these clients have something in common – they use the Telegram API. But it is impossible to say whether they provide additional benefits and an additional level of security for correspondence. The TOP-5 alternative clients from Google Play understand as functions such as hiding part of the chats on the device.
Under the guise of an “alternative Telegram client” you can also download a malicious application. Scammers are taking full advantage of the messenger’s popularity.
download them only from official app stores.
Make sure that the application you are downloading has been around for a long time. Has a high rating and a large number of downloads.
Enjoy reliable malware protection across all platforms, such as Kaspersky Premium.
Collection to help Durov and protect freedom of speech
This topic is not directly related to the current situation correspondence in Telegram. But it is equally important to know that under. The guise of various collections of donations for legal assistance to Pavel Durov. Scammers lure payment details or transfers in cryptocurrency. Treat them with the utmost suspicion and check whether. The stated organization really exists and whether it is conducting such a campaign right now. We have a separate article about fraud in the field of charity.