The Russians invented another way to get into other people's smartphones: the Central Security Service warned about the "new" Telegram

It is promoted as a way to bypass call blocking, but in reality it is an application that is fully controlled by the Kremlin and integrated into the Russian state digital surveillance system. The CPD was warned about this on October 21. IT specialists established that Telega works on the infrastructure of VK and the state messenger MAX. This allows the Russians to censor channels, monitor correspondence and collect personal data of users.

In particular, we are talking about IP addresses, phone numbers, session times, call metadata, etc. In addition, the VK service API key and the "blacklist" function of channels, which is activated remotely, were found in the application code. This indicates another tool of censorship and monitoring of citizens developed in the Russian Federation. "In fact, the Russian state has found a way to infiltrate the smartphones of its citizens under the guise of "bypassing censorship".

The Russian Federation is building a "digital concentration camp" step by step, where even an attempt to preserve privacy can become a trap," the CPD emphasized. The Russian mass media "Agentstvo" confirmed that Telegram started advertising the new Telega client. It is being promoted with promises of bypassing blocks in Russia and positioned as an alternative to the official Telegram. Users are promised "unlimited work" and the ability to call without a VPN.

It is reported that the first version of the application was called "Dal". It appeared in the AppStore back in February, and in Google Play in April. However, in September "Dal" was renamed to Telega, the application was downloaded more than 130 thousand times from Google Play and RuStore. The developer of the application in the AppStore is indicated by "Technologies of user communications", the co-owners of which are Oleksandr Smirnov, Fanis Sadikov and his wife Enzhe.

Smirnova and Sadikova are considered employees of VK. In particular, they developed the Movika service, which was completely bought out by VK Group in 2024. The developer of another Telegram client, Catogram, analyzed the competitor's application and said that "100% of the infrastructure" of Telega was created "on the basis" of VK. According to the programmer, Telega's proxy address leads to VK's internal domain, and calls go through the same infrastructure as MAX.

He also drew attention to the API key in the code for VK services, which is not released to third-party users and developers. Authorization in Telega takes place through a chatbot and SMS, thanks to which the application receives data about the user's nickname, IP, phone number, language and session time. In addition, it makes it possible to monitor the metadata of who is communicating with whom and when.

The "blacklist" function of channels, bots and users, as explained by the Catogram developer, is activated on the application server. Telega responded to the request of rosZMI that they "do not participate in VK projects. " In addition, journalists were assured that messages and data are allegedly "processed on the Telegram side in accordance with its protocols. " As a reminder, the media reported on two powerful security features that appeared in Android 16, but which not all users may know about.