Counterintelligence: Ukraine bans Telegram on company cell phones
Telegram is to be removed from cell phones of employees of Ukrainian authorities and military. Reason: Russia's services could be monitoring Telegram.
To be removed in the event of a crisis: Telegram in Ukraine.
(Image: Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock.com)
Ukraine has banned the installation and use of the messaging app Telegram on official cell phones. This applies not only to authorities and the military, but also to companies in the defense and armaments sector as well as operators of critical infrastructure (KRITIS). The measure serves to counter espionage and military national defense.
According to an official statement, the head of Ukraine's counterintelligence department has presented "solid evidence that Russian intelligence services have access to personal Telegram correspondence, even deleted messages, as well as users' personal data". Representatives of the armed forces and the domestic intelligence service have also described how Russia uses Telegram for active attacks: among other things, Russia spreads malware via Telegram, runs phishing campaigns, determines the whereabouts of users and adapts missile attacks accordingly.
For this reason, the National Coordination Center for IT Security decided at the end of last week to ban Telegram from company cell phones. Ukraine has had to defend itself against military attacks by Russia for years; since February 2022, Russia has been attempting to take over the whole of Ukraine and is constantly destroying civilian facilities in the process. This has resulted in countless civilian deaths and driven many Ukrainians to flee their homes.
There are exceptions to the ban for official matters; Telegram is also an effective means for Ukrainian authorities from the president downwards to provide their own population with information. According to media reports, Telegram has stated that it does not disclose any data to the authorities – but Telegram is about to change this. Once deleted, messages could not be recovered.
IT defense needs women
(Image: National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine)
The Ukrainian IT Security Council made further decisions at the meeting. A nationwide initiative aims to encourage more women to work in the field of IT security. Gender equality should help with this. An automatic "cyber tracker" is to track the implementation of the Ukrainian IT security strategy and thus accelerate its implementation.
The country's telecom network operators, which are constantly exposed to Russian attacks with weapons as well as malware and social engineering, will jointly create a facility for sharing and analyzing IT threats. Measures are also planned to ensure the operation of telecommunications networks during the increasingly frequent power outages. Further decisions regarding Ukrainian IT security were taken in a secret meeting.
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