Is my Telegram app compromised?
Telegram is a messaging app with social media-like features. It is designed to host info for groups and channels with an unlimited number of members and subscribers, messages, news, and other information which can be shared among like-minded people.
The private messages can be protected from snooping through end-to-end-encryption, although this is not the default and only works if all participants in a group do it. Anti-lockdown supporters and other groups can also easily organize through Telegram, away from the spying eye of law enforcement. If a country like New Zealand would ban it, it would join the small list of countries that have banned or regulated Telegram previously, including India, Russia, China and latest Germany. Yet, Telegram has been committed to its anti-censorship stance and has done a good job of avoiding bans. Telegram has servers all around the world.
However, if you are using Telegram downloaded from the built-in app stores your program is already compromised and leaky. Although the original Telegram app which is downloadable from https://telegram.org/ is said to be mostly bug free, it’s derivatives that are distributed via Mac’s App store and Google Play (such a cute and harmless name, by the way…) results in searches being manipulated, content censored and/or remotely deleted as well as other unwanted interactions with the telegram app and your phone in general. Deleting content, tapping into voice chats or roaming your contacts and image galleries are activities of possible interference from external sources. These occurrences are reality and not fictions or conspiracy inspired.
Telegram is an open source program therefore anyone who can and wants to engineer the program to their liking is free to do so.
Find out if you are running the ‘original’ Telegram app or a compromised version
Try a channel that is known to be censored like https://t.me/UncensoredRedPillsChat/55628 . Note that the content of this channel is not known to me except that it is blocked by Google and Apple. If you can’t see it, it’s a simple way to proof that you are not running the original and it’s time to uninstall the app from your device. You will not lose any data by uninstalling the app. As soon as you reinstall and register the app (with the same phone number) the content will re-appear, because Telegram is server based. In case you were wondering to find a simple way to determine if you version is original or not, unfortunately checking the app version will not reveal it’s origin.
What can you do, if you see a message like this one?
To view content of a channel or group that is blocked on your device, you can either download and use the desktop versions of Telegram that are bug free or download the applicable version (e.g. for Android or Mac) onto your device from it’s original source telegram.org. Before you do this you must enable ‘allow the installation of apps from unknown sources’ on your phone. This is hidden away somewhere in the settings of your phone. If you are downloading directly from telegram.org giving this permission is absolutely safe. Be aware that any Telegram update from Android or Mac can potentially fool you back to the compromised appstore version. So keep checking the specs!!!
So long story short, Telegram is a great and versatile messaging app, but you want to make sure that you run free of unwanted control and censorship. When engaging in chat groups with members running compromised versions of the app, every member is risking to have their credentials and other private data exposed. My recommendation when running a Telegram group, keep it small and limit to known people you can trust, otherwise rather create a private or public Telegram channel to incorporate larger numbers of subscribers. The same applies for people participating in group chats. It is possible to hide your profile all together, however this might not be very practical as people you know can’t see who you are. Being anonymous makes it rather awkward when you are engaging with friends. Usually I don’t engage with an anonymous contact…
For further reading on Telegrams battle to remain an uncensored source of information I recommend the following links: