Cybersecurity experts highlight a new feature in the Telegram messaging application that allows users to import WhatsApp chat history. Users who use it are advised to realize the risk that chat history traces will be stored in the Telegram cloud.
Telegram makes an ‘export chat’ feature to make it easier for users to transfer old conversations on WhatsApp. This feature is thought to trigger more and more users to switch to Telegram after information regarding WhatsApp’s new policy.
Quoted from an article made by Zak Doffman for Forbes, Monday (1/2), the transferred WhatsApp chat history, including messages and data, will be stored in the Telegram cloud. There is a security risk to this system because certain parts are not protected by encryption.
Threatening Risks When Moving Chat
Storage systems in the cloud allow Telegram users to access messages or data using any device, anywhere. The advantage of this system is that if the device is lost, the message is still stored.
But this also means messages in the Telegram cloud are not end-to-end encrypted. This is said to be different from WhatsApp and Signal which offer end-to-end encryption security.
Telegram is said to apply encryption to messages between the device. And the cloud and between the cloud and the message recipient, but Telegram is described as having the key to this encryption.
Regulations that maintain encryption are in place, but are not as stringent as WhatsApp and Signal’s end-to-end encryption. Where message givers and recipients can view content but app providers cannot.
The security risk of end-to-end encryption is described as residing on the device. Encrypted messages cannot be interrupted during the transfer process, but when they arrive at the device it will be translated so that they can be accessed by users.
This system allows messages to be passed through physical or digital on the device.
The security risk is the same on a cloud basis. For example, if a user saves a WhatsApp message to the Google cloud, then the message is a translated encrypted copy. Google has an encryption code outside of the end-to-end encryption system that WhatsApp employs.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov is said to have said, “WhatsApp is dangerous … Users don’t want to lose their messages when they switch devices, so they use iCloud message backup service which often doesn’t realize the backup messages are not encrypted”.
Durov said that risk made Telegram never rely on cloud managed by third parties.
Users are Advised not to Move Chat History
However, the Forbes article explains that the new Telegram feature that allows users to move chat history from WhatsApp to Telegram is a contradiction to Durov’s statement.
Users are advised not to move chat history to cloud providers, including Telegram, without understanding the security risk.
In addition, there are other security issues being discussed, namely the possibility that WhatsApp user information can enter the Telegram cloud even though they never provide it. This will happen if the recipient of your WhatsApp message uses the ‘export chat’ feature to Telegram.
This risk is not only for individuals but also includes company data, for example on employees who actively use WhatsApp.
The solution given is not to move WhatsApp chat history to Telegram without understanding the security risk. Users are advised to use both applications simultaneously, while determining which one is the best.
