Privacy

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Is Telegram really an encrypted messaging app? (blog.cryptographyengineering.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Blog post by crypto professor Matthew Green, discussing what Telegram does (I wasn't familiar with it) and criticizing its cryptography. He says Telegram by default is not end-to-end encrypted. It does have an end-to-end "secret chat" feature, but it's a nuisance to activate and only works for two-person chats (not groups) where both people are online when the chat starts.

It still isn't clear to me why Telegram's founder was arrested. Green expresses some concern over that but doesn't give any details that weren't in the headlines.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 2 months ago (35 children)

I mean really, we don't need an entire article to explain how encryption works on Telegram.

Chats by default aren't fully e2e. Your key must be kept on the server(s) to enable instant sync with other devices
There is a full e2e chat, you can enable this at any time. But, it doesn't do groups, it's only between 2 parties, and it doesn't sync across devices.
Telegram's encryption isn't open source, so no one can verify it's soundness or risks.

None of this is new info, it's been talked about for 2 years now.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We really don't need more than #3 for a reason to stay far away from Telegram. Security through obscurity is not security, and neither is rolling your own crypto.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Just note that the comment was inaccurate, in that their weird encryption is indeed open source at least.

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