Telegram: Unhackable?

Someone once told me Telegram was the best messaging app out there, "it's unhackable." Before I was told this, I was already a telegram user, mostly because it is easier to connect with people from other countries by just adding their user name.

What is Telegram?

Nowadays it’s a miracle to find anything unhackable online; an applaud to Bitcoin in that department. I believe there are many people that don't really worry about their data privacy, but nevertheless, times have changed topics that weren't even discussed are now a huge concern for a growing number of people. Individuals are more conscious of the importance of privacy and are demanding products that support this. On the other hand, people can demand products and services that ensure user privacy, but users must also do their part by being careful about accessing random links or by reading terms and conditions.

I believe when I was told Telegram was unhackable, I believed it, but that perception has completely changed since a few weeks ago very important telegrams have been hacked.

Whose telegram was hacked?

Brazil´s President Jair Bolsonaro, Justice Minister Sergio Moro, and Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and recently Puerto Rico´s Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.

The most recent hack: “The protests arose in response to the leak of Telegram app messages in which Gov. Ricardo Rosselló and his inner circle make light of the casualties caused by Hurricane Maria and disparage political opponents using vulgar, homophobic, and sexist language.”

On the other hand, regardless of his statements, these were still expressed in a private chat that was hacked. Both hacks caused a stir in the community, and the last leak even caused numerous protests, supported by many famous music industry artists causing the resignation of Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.

How was this possible?

“The hacking technique used by the four alleged perpetrators, as described in a court document that led to their arrest, was first documented in 2017 by Ran Bar-Zik, an Israeli web developer at Oath.”

“While Bar-Zik showed the attack against a WhatsApp account, a year later, in 2018, security researcher Martin Vigo expanded on this technique, showing how attackers could use voicemail accounts to hijack accounts at other service providers, such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, WordPress, eBay, or PayPal. Apparently, this technique also works with Telegram accounts (Update: Not anymore. Telegram has deployed a fix.).”

It's scary to see how it becomes harder and harder to find privacy online that's one of the reasons crypto is so revolutionary. The digital currency runs on a decentralized network, and all the information is stored on a blockchain that can't be tampered with. Telegram and WhatsApp have both made improvements on their security flaws; unfortunately, there will always be someone out there finding new ways to hack: messages, banks, exchanges, among others.

I hope you enjoyed it.

By: Carolina Pérez

Twitter: @carolinaninap