Telegram has earned a growing reputation for being the somewhat hippie, and as some may think, safer alternative of WhatsApp or Messenger—something on par with the Signal app, although perhaps better known. However, Telegram’s reputation for offering any level of additional cybersecurity is overly exaggerated—a fact emphasized by Signal’s own founder, Moxie Marlinspike, this week.
He went on to say that in this regard, even Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp offer greater privacy than Telegram. Both of these apps, run by the company now rebranded as Meta, offer at least end-to-end encryption for all text messages sent through their platforms.
This is a reality that’s considered unacceptable even by Facebook’s standards, which is known for its lack of care when it comes to personal privacy online. Even Messenger offers the minimum standard end-to-end encryption protocol for data stored on its servers. However, anyone with access to Telegram’s serves has direct access to the entire database of users’ unprotected data.
The point being, if anyone such as a hacker, or even an authority that has you under suspicion, has any interest in spying on your personal messages in Telegram, they could easily do so. Moxie Marlinspike isn’t the first to bring Telegram’s false reputation and concerning methods of operation to light by any means, either.
