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Showing posts with label Pavel Durov. Show all posts
Vkontakte
Cyber News Mobile Security Pavel Durov Russia Telegram Telegram Messenger Ukraine VK Vkontakte

Telegram has Experienced a Global Outage

 

On Thursday, March 3, the popular messenger Telegram experienced a failure. Users reported about the problems on the website of the service Downdetector, which tracks problems with access to Internet resources. 

According to Downdetector, the failure occurred at about 14 o'clock Moscow time. The majority of those who left complaints (56 percent) reported problems with the server connection. Users also noted problems with receiving messages (22 percent) and the operation of the application (23 percent). 

The failure affected residents of Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. Users from Ukraine and Belarus also complained about the problems. 

The other day Pavel Durov published the following statement: "We do not want Telegram to be used as a tool to exacerbate conflicts and incite interethnic discord. In the event of an escalation of the situation, we will consider the possibility of partially or completely restricting the operation of Telegram channels in the countries involved during the conflict." 

According to him, recently Telegram has been increasingly used to spread fakes and unverified data related to the war, and the administration does not have the opportunity to check all publications for authenticity. However, soon Durov promised not to limit the work of the messenger in Ukraine. 

According to him, "a lot of users have asked us not to consider disabling Telegram channels for the period of the conflict, since we are the only source of information for them." But he urges users to "double-check and not take for granted the data that is published in Telegram channels during this difficult period." 

It is worth noting that in the week since the beginning of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, news channels in the Telegram messenger have added 19.5 million new subscribers. Another Russian social network, created at the time by Pavel Durov, is experiencing a new surge in popularity due to technical problems of other social networks. In VK, views in the news feed increased by 5% over the week, and the average daily number of video views increased by 15%. People are looking on platforms for up-to-date information from media that are subject to hacker attacks, and from eyewitnesses of events. 

Earlier, CySecurity News reported that three popular foreign social networks - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter began to receive complaints from residents of Russia in large numbers.
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WhatsApp
Messenger Mobile App Mobile Application Hacking Mobile Security Pavel Durov Personal Data Secure Messenger Telegram WhatsApp

Durov Suspected WhatsApp of Intentionally Introducing Vulnerabilities

 

Russian entrepreneur and founder of the Telegram messenger Pavel Durov while criticizing the WhatsApp service said that the messenger, owned by Meta, was hardly ever secure, in his Telegram channel.

Durov also suspects that the service may intentionally introduce vulnerabilities. "Since the creation of WhatsApp, there has hardly been a moment when it was secure: every few months, researchers discover a new security problem in the application," he added. 

Durov noted that every few months researchers find a new security issue in the application. He recalled that he had already spoken out about the danger of the service in 2020. Since then, as the creator of Telegram considered, the situation with WhatsApp has not changed. 

As an illustration of his words, he cited a study by the American information technology company Boldend, which revealed a vulnerability in WhatsApp. The gap in the messenger has existed for several years and allows attackers to gain access to the correspondence of their victims unnoticed. 

In addition, the creator of Telegram commented on a Forbes report, which claims that Facebook investor Peter Thiel secretly funded a startup with the ability to hack WhatsApp. "WhatsApp users' messages have been available for attacks by potential hackers for years," Durov said about the report. 

"It would be hard to believe that WhatsApp technicians are so often incompetent. Telegram, a much more technically sophisticated application, has never had such serious security problems," Durov concluded. 

In December, Durov said that his Telegram remains protected from the influence of third parties. He cited the example of the FBI report, which claimed that the bureau has access to Viber, iMessage, WhatsApp, and Line, but Telegram, Threema, Signal, and Wickr do not transmit correspondence to third parties. At the same time, it was noted that Telegram can, at the request of law enforcement officers, issue the IP address and phone number of the user. 

Earlier, Pavel Durov's team advised the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine on cryptocurrencies. The Minister said that he actively uses the Telegram messenger for fast communications.
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Telegram
Pavel Durov Privacy Privacy Breach surveillance Telegram

Telegram Pavel Durov says that since 2018 he knew about the potential surveillance of his phone

The billionaire said he had known since 2018 that one of his phone numbers was on the NSO Group list, but was not worried about it.

"Since 2011, when I was still living in Russia, I used to think that all my phones were hacked. Anyone who gets access to my personal data will be extremely disappointed, as he will have to view thousands of Telegram feature concepts and millions of messages related to the development process of our product. He will not find any important information there," Durov explained.

At the same time, he recalled that surveillance tools were also used against "much more significant" people, including more than 10 heads of state. "A huge problem for humanity", according to the businessman, is created by "backdoors" that smartphone and software manufacturers deliberately leave in their systems.

"According to Snowden's 2013 revelations, Apple and Google are part of a global surveillance program. These companies should introduce backdoors into their mobile operating systems. These backdoors, usually disguised as security bugs, allow US intelligence agencies to access information on any smartphone in the world," Durov wrote. 

According to Durov, at the same time, access to these vulnerabilities can be obtained not only by the US authorities but also "any other organization that finds them."

"It is not surprising that this is exactly what happened: the Israeli company NSO Group sold access to spy tools that allowed third parties to hack tens of thousands of phones," the billionaire noted.

Recently, The Guardian reported that the Telegram founder's British mobile number was on a list of potential surveillance targets in 2018.

The publication suggested that the authorities of the United Arab Emirates could have shown interest in Durov since the appearance of the entrepreneur's number on the list coincided with his move to this country.

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Ukrainian Cyber Security
Bitcoin cryptocurrency Pavel Durov Technology Ukraine Ukrainian Cyber Security

Pavel Durov's team advised the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine on cryptocurrencies.

 The Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov said that his department is in contact with the team of the developer of the Telegram messenger Pavel Durov.

According to Fedorov, he is familiar with Durov's team. Employees of the Ministry of Digital Transformation received advice on bills related to virtual assets and cryptocurrency

"I know Durov's team. I know all its management, we communicate, consult even on bills related to cryptocurrency, virtual assets, and so on."

The Minister said that he actively uses the Telegram messenger for fast communications. However, the information exchanged by officials is protected as much as possible, and all documents pass through electronic document management.

"Of course, questions of national importance do not need to be sent in messengers, this is understandable," added Mikhail Fedorov.

Answering the question about which of the messengers is the safest for him, the head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation noted that he most often uses Telegram and WhatsApp.

Recall that on December 2, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the first reading adopted as a basis the draft law "On virtual assets" regulating operations with cryptocurrencies in the country. The bill classifies virtual assets (VA) as an intangible good.

The function of the market regulator is assigned to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and in some cases to the National Bank and the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market.

According to experts, the daily volume of cryptocurrency transactions in Ukraine is about $150-200 million. One of the authors of the document, Deputy Oleksiy Zhmerenetsky, noted that the bill will allow cryptocurrency companies to pay taxes and allow specialized foreign firms to cooperate with Ukrainian banks and invest in the industry.

Ukraine did not follow the Russian path of banning virtual assets, because this market is a growth point for Ukraine's GDP and an opportunity to become one of the world's technology leaders. In addition, it makes no sense to prohibit something that is technically impossible to control, as we have already seen in the case of blocking Telegram in Russia.

Recall that Roskomnadzor has added the site of the Binance crypto exchange to the list of banned sites in Russia.

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Telegram Messenger
Pavel Durov Privacy Telegram Messenger

American IT-businessman of Russian origin says Durov gave data of Telegram to Kremlin

The founder of Telegram Pavel Durov  gave the messenger with the data of all users to the Kremlin because the messenger became an unbearable financial burden, the costs of which exceeded $2-3 million a month, said an American IT businessman of Russian origin, the head of Pi5 Cloud Michael Talan.

"Telegram is a fully cloud-based solution that hosts its systems in three providers: Google, Amazon, and DigitalOcean. According to my calculations, for Pavel Durov, monthly payments on Telegram exceed $2-3 million. For him, this has become an expense that cannot be recouped. Previously, he paid with money from investors TON (Telegram Open Network),” said Talan.

He clarified that Durov had financial problems related to Telegram after the decision of the American Securities and Exchange Commission, which banned the Russian programmer from launching the TON commercial platform.

"I am 100% convinced of this. So if you are still using Telegram in Ukraine, I urge you: delete all correspondence from there and close your account, because now Telegram is a tool of the Kremlin," the American IT businessman addressed the Ukrainians.

It’s important to note that, in early August 2020, Pavel Durov reported that in two countries he was offered to sell part of Telegram, but he refused because the messenger is not sold "either partially or completely". "This will always be our position,” stressed Durov.

It should be noted that the social network VKontakte, created by Pavel Durov, has found a way to circumvent the ban on the use of the social network in Ukraine. The social network mobile application is now working on the territory of Ukraine. At the same time, in order to access the social network from a computer, residents of Ukraine still need to use another VPN.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Zelensky extended a decree banning Russian social networks.

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Telegram
Apple Information Security News IT Security Pavel Durov Technology Technology News Telegram

Pavel Durov called on Apple to oblige to install different application stores


Apple should allow users to install apps not only from its own App Store. This opinion was expressed by the founder of Telegram messenger Pavel Durov. According to him, Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) should be obligated to this at the legislative level.

The day before, high-ranking Telegram Manager, Vice President of the company founded by Pavel Durov, Ilya Perekopsky, spoke at a panel discussion with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and representatives of the IT industry in Innopolis. He said that Apple and Google are holding back the development of startups by charging a tax of a 30 percent Commission from app developers. Almost simultaneously with Perekopsky's speech, Durov published an article in which he called for Apple to be legally obliged to install an alternative App Store on the iPhone.

Durov is sure that if this is not done, then app developers, in particular, from Russia, will be forced to sell their startups for little money. At the same time, Apple's capitalization will only grow.
“Preventing two supranational corporations from collecting taxes from all of humanity is not an easy task. Corporations employ thousands of lobbyists, lawyers, and PR agents, and their budgets are unlimited. At the same time, app developers are scattered and scared, as the fate of their projects depends entirely on the favor of Apple and Google," wrote Pavel Durov.

The head of the TelecomDaily information and analytical agency Denis Kuskov noted that changing the market is quite difficult because these two companies are leading it. Therefore, Durov needs to accept this fact.

Durov recalled that in 2016, Apple banned the Telegram team from launching its own game platform: "We had to remove the telegram games catalog that we had already created and almost the entire platform interface, otherwise Apple threatened to remove Telegram from the AppStore." According to Durov, in a similar way the iPhone manufacturer does with many other developers.
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Vkontakte
Pavel Durov Russia Technology Technology News Vkontakte

Pavel Durov: the world will not be the same after the COVID-19 pandemic


Pavel Durov, the Creator of the social network Vkontakte and the Telegram messenger, said that the world can expect a “civilizational shift passing through generations” after the coronavirus pandemic. He wrote about this in his Telegram channel.

The entrepreneur called the spread of the coronavirus "a threat to our entire species." "When the pandemic ends, the world will not return to normal. It depends on us whether the new world will be a better place than the one that we leave behind,” wrote he.

Durov believes that isolation is a chance for everyone to create a "better version of themselves", as well as for technology to prove its value.

The messenger's founder said that this month Telegram verified and started promoting 17 channels of the Ministries of Health in different countries of the world. He also noted that Telegram is not a company that can be considered to cooperate with government agencies, but in this particular case, an exception was made to help governments spread information about coronavirus. The list of channels supported by Messenger also includes the official channel of the Russian operational headquarters for fighting the virus.

In addition to this, Telegram will later present a project that eases the problem of learning during self-isolation, Durov added. He promised to reveal more information about the project in the next few days.

In January, Durov spoke about why using the WhatsApp messenger is dangerous. He noted that users prefer to save backup copies of their conversations on cloud storage when changing their devices, which are not encrypted. Also, the source of danger can be backdoors (secret vulnerabilities intentionally built by developers).
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WhatsApp
Pavel Durov Telegram Vulnerability Vulnerability and Exploits WhatsApp

Pavel Durov again warned about the danger of using WhatsApp


Pavel Durov claims that the hacking of the iPhone of Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, occurred due to vulnerabilities in WhatsApp. Facebook which owns the messenger insists that the leak is related to the Apple device itself.

The reason for the leak of personal photos and correspondence of the founder of Amazon and the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, is a vulnerability in the encryption system of WhatsApp, not problems with Apple gadgets. Telegram founder Pavel Durov wrote about this in his Telegram channel.

This is how he reacted to an interview with Vice President of Facebook's Global Policy Department Nick Clegg, who said that Bezos confidential data leak was due to the iPhone. "We are confident that end-to-end encryption technology cannot be hacked," he said.

Durov recalled that a few months ago he talked about the vulnerabilities of WhatsApp, which, in his opinion, eventually led to the hacking of Bezos smartphone. At the same time, Facebook then assured that there is no evidence that attackers used this vulnerability. According to the founder of Telegram, the backdoor in WhatsApp allowed access to personal messages and photos of the richest man in the world.

Durov explained that the vulnerability used during the hacking of Bezos phone existed not only on iOS, but also on smartphones with Android and Windows. In addition, it is not available in other messengers.

Durov also accused WhatsApp management of using the phrase "end-to-end encryption" as a "magic spell" that automatically makes correspondence secure. He pointed out that the technology itself does not guarantee complete privacy. For example, WhatsApp developers may intentionally leave vulnerabilities in the app at the request of security forces from different countries. As a result, WhatsApp has no problems with the authorities, and Telegram is banned in some countries like Russia and Iran.

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WhatsApp
Cyber Security Cyber Security awareness Pavel Durov Telegram WhatsApp

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram advised users to remove WhatsApp from smartphones


The Creator of Telegram messenger Pavel Durov called WhatsApp application unsafe.
He recalled a recently discovered vulnerability that allowed hackers and government intelligence agencies to access user data.

"WhatsApp not only does not protect your messages, but this app is also constantly being used as a Trojan to track photos and messages unrelated to Messenger," wrote he on the Telegram channel.
According to Durov, the problem lies in the policy of Facebook, which owns WhatsApp.
Durov noted that his Telegram messenger did not encounter such vulnerabilities in six years of existence. At the same time, he doubted that WhatsApp makes mistakes in the security system due to system imperfections.

"It is very unlikely that someone can accidentally allow serious security failures, such convenient for surveillance, on a regular basis," said he.Therefore, Durov urged users to delete WhatsApp.

In addition, Durov claimed that WhatsApp, like Facebook, shared user information with almost everyone who claimed to be working for the government.

The words of the Creator of Telegram were commented by experts. Thus, the CEO of Digital platforms Arseny Shcheltsin noted that any messenger, including Telegram, has access to the files of the smartphone.

"Does the messenger use this data for its work? It's hard to say," said he.According to Shcheltsin, WhatsApp is trying to demonstrate its usefulness to investors and recoup millions of dollars in costs. And Mark Zuckerberg can consider data collection is an excellent format for the best advertising targeting.

Arseniy Poyarkov, a member of the State Duma’s expert council on the digital economy, advised users of Messengers to prepare in advance for the fact that their personal data can become available to anyone.

According to him, data leaks are almost always associated with careless actions of the user himself.
"Observing information hygiene: using VPN, foreign secure messengers, regularly deleting correspondence and unnecessary photos - you can feel safe with a high degree of confidence," concluded Poyarkov.
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