Reuters: Russia lifts ban on Telegram messaging app after failing to block it. “Russia on Thursday lifted a ban on the Telegram messaging app that had failed to stop the widely-used programme operating despite being in force for more than two years.”
Telegram
CNET: Telegram says group video calls are coming later this year
CNET: Telegram says group video calls are coming later this year. “To help its users stay in touch during the coronavirus pandemic and after, Telegram will add group video calls this year to its popular messaging app, the company said Friday. Telegram also noted that its app — available on Android, iOS, Windows and Mac, as well as through a web browser — now has 400 million monthly users, up from 300 million from a year ago.”
Digital Trends: WhatsApp contains ‘dangerous’ and deliberate backdoors, claims Telegram founder
Digital Trends: WhatsApp contains ‘dangerous’ and deliberate backdoors, claims Telegram founder. “WhatsApp has had a rocky past year as faith in its privacy and encryption promises continued to falter — especially after the world’s richest man fell victim to an infamous security vulnerability. Now, in a scathing blog post, Telegram Messenger’s founder, Pavel Durov, has added insult to the Facebook-owned instant messaging app’s injury by calling it ‘dangerous’ to use.”
GitHub Project: A Telegram Mass Surveillance Bot in Python
Interesting GitHub project that turned up in my RSS feeds: A Telegram Mass Surveillance Bot in Python. From the README.md page: “Informer (TGInformer) is a bot library that allows you to masquerade as multiple REAL users on telegram and spy on 500+ Telegram channels per account. Details are logged to a MySQL database, a private Google Sheet and your own private channel for analysis.”
Fast Company: There’s now a chatbot to give refugees instant legal advice
Fast Company: There’s now a chatbot to give refugees instant legal advice. “For a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who is trying to navigate the legal path to resettlement, it can be difficult to find answers—and overstretched humanitarian organizations can take as long as three months to respond to an email when the demand for help is highest. A new chatbot called Mona, designed for Facebook Messenger and Telegram, can help more quickly.”
South China Morning Post: Older Hongkongers taking to online apps and social media for latest updates on protests, and some may join rallies too
South China Morning Post: Older Hongkongers taking to online apps and social media for latest updates on protests, and some may join rallies too . “Retired schoolteacher Bill Lau, 66, first learned about the messaging app Telegram and online forum LIHKG – platforms popular with protesters – from his friends and younger daughter respectively. Curious, he downloaded Telegram and started checking out LIHKG links from his daughter, and now spends at least half an hour on them each day.”
Neowin: Telegram introduces scheduled messages, reminders, improved theming, and more
Neowin: Telegram introduces scheduled messages, reminders, improved theming, and more. “Since its inception in 2013, Telegram has often delivered new features that can’t be found on most other messaging apps. The developers continue to add new features with more updates every now and then, and today it’s time for another one with version 5.11.”
Exclusive: Messaging app Telegram moves to protect identity of Hong Kong protesters (Reuters)
Reuters: Exclusive: Messaging app Telegram moves to protect identity of Hong Kong protesters. “The update to Telegram, planned for release over the next few days, will allow protesters to prevent mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities from discovering their identities in the app’s large group chats.”
MakeUseOf: The Best Telegram Channels and How to Use Them
MakeUseOf: The Best Telegram Channels and How to Use Them. “One of Telegram’s biggest advantages over similar chat apps is how easy it is to join channels and groups. Telegram channels allow you to meet up with people to talk about any topic you’re interested in. In this article we take a look at the best Telegram channels you should know about. With so many channels to sort through, we’ll show you some of the top picks.”
Neowin: Telegram 5.10 released with silent messages, slow mode, admin titles and more
Neowin: Telegram 5.10 released with silent messages, slow mode, admin titles and more. “Telegram has announced the availability of version 5.10 of its app for Android and iOS. The new update brings a slew of features including silent messages, slow mode, admin titles, video timestamps and thumbnail scrubbing, animated emoji, a new attachment menu on Android, and customisable accent colours on iOS.”
Lifehacker: How To Get Google Assistant To Read Notifications From Third-Party Apps
Lifehacker: How To Get Google Assistant To Read Notifications From Third-Party Apps. “Previously, Google Assistant could only read messages from Android Messages and Google Hangouts aloud — and not very well, either. Now, the sky is the limit: Google Assistant can read your messages from third-party apps such as Slack, WhatsApp, Discord, Telegram, and even Google’s own finicky apps like Google Voice.”
Cops and corgis: New Russian social media bot puts riot police where you least expect them (Meduza)
Meduza: Cops and corgis: New Russian social media bot puts riot police where you least expect them. “FreeOmon is a bot account based in the social network Telegram. Its sole function is to add Russian riot police to preexisting images. Any user who sends the bot an image file immediately receives a new-and-improved, highly secured version in return. “
The Verge: WhatsApp and Telegram media files aren’t so secure after they reach your phone
The Verge: WhatsApp and Telegram media files aren’t so secure after they reach your phone. “While they’re known for strongly encrypting messages in transit, apps like WhatsApp and Telegram may not always be able to keep files safe after they’re on your phone. Today, researchers from Symantec explain how hackers could use a malicious app to subtly alter media files sent through the services.”
CNN: Telegram reports powerful cyberattack from China during Hong Kong protests
CNN: Telegram reports powerful cyberattack from China during Hong Kong protests. “Encrypted messaging platform Telegram said it experienced a ‘powerful’ cyberattack on Wednesday during massive protests in Hong Kong. The attempted distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack was aimed at flooding the app with so much traffic that it impaired normal service.”
ZDNet: New Iranian hacking tool leaked on Telegram
ZDNet: New Iranian hacking tool leaked on Telegram. “Responsible for this leak is the same individual who, in April, leaked the source code of six other Iranian hacking tools, along with information on past hacked victims, and the real-world identities of members of Iranian government hackers.”
