Ukraine Bans Official Use of Telegram App Over Fears of Russian Spying

Ukraine has banned use of Telegram on official devices used by state officials, military personnel and critical workers because it believes its enemy Russia can spy on both messages and users, a top security body said on Friday. Reuters: The National Security and Defence Council announced the restrictions after Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency, presented the Council with evidence of Russian special services' ability to snoop on the platform, it said in a statement. But Andriy Kovalenko, head of the security council's centre on countering disinformation, posted on Telegram that the restrictions apply only to official devices, not personal phones.

Telegram is heavily used in both Ukraine and Russia and has become a critical source of information since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But Ukrainian security officials had repeatedly voiced concerns about its use during the war. Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Russian-born Pavel Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his social media platform VKontakte, which he has sold.

After what Israel did to Lebanon

[Seven Spirals]

You military guys better go back to semaphores and hand-written, hand delivered, OTP-ciphered messages. Okay okay, maybe I'm joking a little bit but not much. I'm kind of curious if some enterprising 3D-printer Hackaday style hardware guys have tried to create an open-source design for a secure communicator (hopefully one that runs off 18650 or AA batteries so you can eliminate that source of risk).

Sounds like hard-pressed military folks might need those along with a few FGC9 mk3 submachine guns hot off

Re:After what Israel did to Lebanon

[smooth wombat]

You're not joking that much. Ukraine is using wired communication [bbc.com] to prevent eavesdropping on communications. Not everywhere, but where feasible or needed.

Re:

[Seven Spirals]

That is some Battlestar Galactica [stackexchange.com] shit right there. Bravo to them for the solution. I wonder if they had to go dig the gear out of a museum or if someone still makes wind-up wired phones.

Re:

[smooth wombat]

I'm on the last two DVDs of the series. Watching if for the 5th(?) time. Still funny how I pick up new things each time I watch, or take someone's line in a different manner.

As for Galactica, the part where Galactica WAS networked so they could run their calculations was one of the less believable elements. The Cylons, based on how advanced they were, should have been able to crack through the firewalls much faster.

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

You military guys better go back to semaphores

Oh, yeah, I'm sure there's no way that could be intercepted [youtube.com].

Re:

[LazarusQLong]

seriously! An OTP may be onerous to create/disseminate/replace regularly but you gain something that is pretty damn secure... unless of course the enemy takes one off of a dead/captured combatant.

With NATO/OTAN supporting Ukraine in this war, I am surprised they are not providing encrypted comms to the Ukraine Military.

A $200 garden variety 3d printer can print an FGC9, can it also print the transistors and such needed for a comms device? I doubt it has the microfine capability to print any sort of IC'

I am wondering why the military doesn't

[0xG]

develop it's own encrypted communications app?
Sure, ir is non-trivial, but given that just about every soldier has a cell phone, and given that the military has lots of resources, I'm sure they could build their own infrastructure.

Obviously, it's not reliable as VHF radios, but they could even integrate the two systems...

Possibilities

[JBMcB]

So if you want it available through an app store, even restricted via a policy (not generally available to everyone) you have to submit your code to Google or Apple or whomever, which I'm guessing a military isn't going to do.

The other option is to side load it on an Android device, which I'm pretty sure is going to be locked down on a government device.

It's not impossible, but I think the bureaucracy and regulation of government IT would make it incredibly difficult to implement.

I'm kind of surprised they don't just do encrypted email, which is natively supported on most built-in mail clients. Then you have control of the server and the certificates.

Re:

[BeepBoopBeep]

Like everything, it costs money. Even Russia doesnt have its proprietary secured communications system. NATO has spent alot of money to have communications that work with the alliance partners in combine nation situations. Imagine if China tried to partner up with Russia in some war ... its a no go.

Re:

[UnknowingFool]

In the case of Russia, they developed their own secure communications system. It was highly publicized and vaunted . . . and it did not work. In the early days of the invasion, Russians stoped using it and resorted to unsecured methods like older cell phones. I was reading that part of the problem was the system relied on a 5G network; however, Russia in their wisdom destroyed many of Ukraine's 5G towers instead of capturing them. So they had to default to use 4G towers.

Seriously

[SmaryJerry]

How can you fight a war without encrypted communications. Let me guess they are using Whatsapp instead?

Re:

[LazarusQLong]

why not Signal? I mean, WhatsApp and Signal both share one vulnerability, but with Signal you don't need to actually use YOUR phone number, get a VOIP number, use that then get rid of it?

Pavel Durov is half-Ukrainian

[mi]

Telegram was founded by Russian-born Pavel Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his social media platform VKontakte

Unbeknown to many Russian assholes, who demanded I use Russian language on VKontakte "because it is a Russian network", Durov's mother Albina Durov (née Ivanenko) is an ethnic Ukrainian. I don't think, it matters, but it is interesting.

Anyway, I doubt, Durov's cooperation with Russian government, whatever its extent — if any — is voluntary, but, of course, Ukrainians cannot afford the risk...

Re:

[allcoolnameswheretak]

Good reading.
https://www.wired.com/story/th... [wired.com]
https://istories.media/en/news... [istories.media]

IMHO Durov and his Telegram platform are clearly compromised and infiltrated by the FSB.

Re:

[LazarusQLong]

that is funny! VK users complaining that you aren't speaking Russian! But, I imagine their are facebook buttheads demanding people speak only American English as well... I had thought that recently Putin had demanded to have access to telegraph messages for his state security apparatus, with what he thinks are reasonable threats to the creator(s).

Ukraine

[LazarusQLong]

Has some really brilliant scientists and engineers, I would be surprised if they didn't/couldn't release their own app to manage comms.

That said, apparently up until now they have been using this app which is controlled by Russia (in some sense at least!)