Hi :) I know that Telegram is not save and not a good messenger if you are a privacy-geek. Sadly some parts of my family still think so. I brougth up the arguments, that they are cooperating with Russia, that they or closed-source on the server-side and that e2ee is not on by default and only available for 1-on-1 chats.
My question now is, if you gals and guys might have some other arguments or sources I could use.
I don’t want to convince anyone to switch away from Telegram (because I am no missionary :D) I just want people to understand the risks of using Telegram.
How about: Signal is better? Though, they recently were caught with some unencrypted shit on the desktop client.
Sauce? I tried searching and couldn’t find anything (at least not on the first page of results). Thanks.
Basically, anyone who can read your home directory could decrypt your Signal database. That’s about typical of traditional desktop applications, but questionable for security-oriented software. Mac OS and (sometimes) Linux have more robust credential management options, and Signal signaled (yes, pun intended) its intent to adopt them.
I feel that if someone can read your home directory, signal isn’t your worst worry. However, it’s still an issue and I’m glad they’re going to move to better security.
i think they mean that signal on desktop does not encrypt their content at rest, which is acknowledged and not an issue they are intending on addressing.
But it seems to have recently changed? I’m learning thus as I wanted to find a source.
Source: https://candid.technology/signal-encryption-key-flaw-desktop-app-fixed/
The messages in the desktop client aren’t encrypted. However, someone would need access to your machine to get them
Also, if the data were encrypted, the encryption key would have been on the Computer anyway, but yes it could have been better protected.
Caught? It was like kinda obvious. You could always locate your Signal folder where everything is downloaded and just see all pictures…
I ignored this flaw as I kept my PC Luks encrypted, but a friend on Windows might not, where everyone with physical access could read everything.
So, yeah. I also dislike the idea that its not encrypted in some sort of way.
A solid privacy conscious youtuber, The Hated One, just published a video on this exact topic. It’s very detail oriented and should be easy for anyone to follow along. Here’s the link: https://youtube.com/watch?v=A8ZXDiQLH9I
Is it true that Telegram doesn’t encrypt group chats at all? Maybe that would get their attention?
My biggest criticism of Telegram (but not the only one) is that they use homebrew crypto. Of course, I don’t know if your family would understand why that’s bad.
It’s true. I’m also really annoyed with rising telegram premium stuff. It used to be just a nifty addon, now it’s everywhere.
WIRE or Signal. Granted, convincing your people to move with you is like trying to get an act of Congress in play.
They download apps for all kinds of bullshit because all their friends and people they follow are on there. They won’t install a messaging app if none of the people they interact with are there. It’s not specific to messaging. I was able to convince my immediate family to move to Signal just for our family group chats. It’s not much but it’s a start.
Quite simple: Telegram is not end-to-end encrypted by default, that means that they can read all your chats if they want to.
Better switch to Signal.
