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As tens of millions of users move from WhatApp to Telegram and Signal, and many of them use these applications for the first time, there are serious security problems to avoid. And now there is a new threat to the security of your WhatsApp messages. It is an apparently useful environment, but with a serious hidden risk. This is what you need to know.
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WhatsApp’s fight is on as it tries to stop the flood of users moving to Telegram and Signal. But users must understand the risks before crossing. Signal and Telegram are not the same. And this has gotten much more serious, with a new Telegram move that could put WhatsApp users at risk.
Earlier this month, alarmist headlines and viral social media posts warned WhatsApp users that Facebook was taking advantage of their data. WhatsApp’s initial public relations were pitiful. By the time messaging took over, as many as 50 million users had installed Signal for the first time, with twice that number opting for the larger Telegram.
The crisis now runs the risk of turning into a catastrophe. The real threat to WhatsApp is that Signal and Telegram become genuine and mainstream alternatives. Yes, Telegram already had a substantial user base, but its new installations leverage WhatsApp’s core, distancing it from its alternative audience of the past. And as Signal and Telegram develop, the network effect runs the risk of accelerating this “digital migration” of WhatsApp.
Both Signal and Telegram are churning out provocative marketing messages based on privacy, playing on anti-Facebook sentiment. They are also rolling out features and updates to fill the gaps in their offerings. Ultimately, though, the trick is to make the transition as easy as possible by helping new users carry their contacts.
One feature that both Telegram and Signal offer is “group links”. Users can create mirror groups to the ones they have on WhatsApp, then message the WhatsApp group with a link to join the new group, install Telegram or Signal if they are not already on board.
Group links
Signal / Telegram / iOS
Now Telegram goes one step further, making it easy to import WhatsApp chat histories exported to its platform. Now it is as simple as selecting “Export chat” in WhatsApp and then selecting Telegram as the destination. All messages and (optionally) media are copied, providing all that history on Telegram.
“Starting today,” Telegram told its users this week, “everyone can bring their chat history, including videos and documents, to Telegram … The best part is that the messages and media you move don’t need to take up space. additional. Older applications allow you to store all the data on your device, but Telegram takes up practically no space and allows you to access all your messages, photos and videos when you need them. “This is not the” best part “of anything. serious risk you need to understand.
Export chat – WhatsApp to Telegram
WhatsApp / Telegram / iOS
Unlike WhatsApp and Signal, Telegram is a cloud-based platform. With the exception of your niche “secret chats,” which must be set up manually and only work between two people on one device each, all your messages are stored in the Telegram cloud. This means that you can access those messages from as many devices as you want, and if you lose a device, you won’t lose any of its content.
But it also means that your messages on Telegram are no end-to-end encryption. This is a critical difference for WhatsApp and Signal, which offer such security. Telegram encrypts messages between your device and your cloud, and between your cloud and your contacts. But Telegram has the keys to this encryption. And while you have policies to protect those keys, this is nowhere near end-to-end encryption, where you and your contacts can access content, but platforms cannot.
The security risk with end-to-end encryption is on your device. This is called an endpoint commitment. While messages cannot be intercepted in transit, once they are received and decrypted by a device, they can be intercepted by a physical or digital attack on that device. It is the biometric or passcode security on your device that keeps those decrypted messages safe. But as Telegram itself says, “we cannot protect you from your own mother if she takes your unlocked phone without a password.”
The same problem extends to the cloud. If you backup WhatsApp to Apple or Google cloud, then this is a copy of the decrypted chat history on your device. Apple and Google have the keys to your backup; it is out of WhatsApp end-to-end encryption. Telegram founder Pavel Durov argues that this makes “WhatsApp dangerous … Users don’t want to lose their chats when they switch devices, so they back up chats to services like iCloud, often without realize that your backups are not encrypted. “
Telegram argues that its cloud is more secure than Apple or Google, “that’s one of the reasons why Telegram never relies on third-party cloud backups,” says Durov. But he also notes that “secret chats are never backed up anywhere” because they are end-to-end encrypted. But by exporting a WhatsApp chat history to the Telegram cloud, you are doing exactly what Durov claims. no they happen with Telegram’s own end-to-end encrypted chats. This is a dangerous contradiction. Why offer to make your end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp chats less secure than Telegram’s (limited) equivalents?
Signal does not offer any form of cloud backup, specifically because this renders its end-to-end encryption useless. Meanwhile, Apple’s iMessage has the smartest option of all, extending end-to-end encryption across its “messages in the cloud.” WhatsApp offers those backups, but for security reasons, that option should be disabled in your settings, although you will lose your chat history if you lose your device.
And then you should no Export your WhatsApp chat histories to any third-party cloud, including Telegram, without fully understanding that doing so removes the security currently protecting your content. By arguing that WhatsApp is not a secure repository for your messages, Telegram should not suggest that you make that content even less secure, without explaining the differences in detail.
If you are switching from WhatsApp, take the time to understand the differences between the alternatives. Your best solution is to hold WhatsApp while you run other options in parallel, decide what works best for you, and see its usefulness improve as more users move. There’s no rush here: WhatsApp is still safe and has a long time to get it right.
