![]() ![]() When a person registers a new device, Telegram sends a one-time passcode via SMS. Rad said there's also a potential problem with Telegram's user authentication. ![]() Telegram's Markus Ra said via email that while his company contests the feasibility of Rad's attack, "Telegram's secret chats are evolving constantly, and we'll make sure they stay secure even as potential attackers gain processing power over time." But he also said his theoretical attack could be made impossible by using a stronger encryption algorithm, a trivial upgrade for Telegram. It also requires that the attacker already has access to Telegram's servers, an assumption that Rad concedes makes a MITM attack on two users less likely given the vast hacking opportunities that such a position would afford anyway. Telegram has dismissed the attack in a blog post as too expensive to pull off. ![]() Rad describes in the blog post how an attacker could replace that image with one of their own, potentially giving assurance to users that their chat is secure when it is not.ĭetermining whether the MITM attack would even be feasible leads to an academic argument about computing power. To send a fully encrypted message, Telegram users must initiate a "secret chat." But Rad said there are potential problems with how a secret chat is set up that could make it vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack.īefore a secret chat begins, two Telegram users see an image that verifies their connection hasn't been tampered with. That kind of encryption is regarded as the safest way to send information. "What bothered me about Telegram was the way they market themselves versus the reality of how people use their application," said Rad, who lives in Stockholm.įor example, Telegram doesn't implement end-to-end encryption by default, a technique that ensures a message is encrypted on a device and is only decrypted by a recipient. Rad said in a phone interview that his correspondence with Telegram has been cordial but a bit tense. They went public on Sunday with a blog post pointing out problems with Telegram, which may cause concern for those who are particularly worried about how such messaging systems could be compromised.
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