Mobile Gadget and Security. Is There a Choice?
In 2016, mobile operators in Russia were required to store information about their clients, their calls, messages, and photos for three years. Special services around the world actively use software to monitor the smartphones of human rights defenders, opposition activists, journalists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and officials, demonstrating the importance of cybersecurity in the modern world.
Mobile gadget owners have several levels of privacy that need to be protected: through the phone, one can track your movements, eavesdrop on your conversations, read your correspondence, and gain access to your data on the device.
Freedom of Messages
SMS is the most unreliable means of communication. Messages in regular messengers are also at risk of interception. However, most messengers now have message encryption.
Telegram also has secure “secret chats” – firstly, for a hacker to read your correspondence, they would need to gain access to your phone, and secondly, you can set up automatic deletion of messages from history after a certain period, so even if a thief steals your phone, they won’t be able to read your correspondence.
Thus, during the hacks of Telegram, opposition activists did not experience leaks of messages from their secret chats, if they even had any. But these hacks could have been avoided with two-factor authentication.