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Pavel Durov: "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026"

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Re: Pavel Durov: "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026"

#11

Post by iberator »

kepponen wrote: post #10
atmanactive wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's worse: Telegram's alleged accessibility to Moscow/FSB, or WhatsApp's proven spying and data selling to anyone?

Tough choice, but I would choose Whatsapp over FSB.

Why? There is a low chance of FSB successfully prosecuting you as western Citizen doing illegal/silly things in Telegram.

Big Five of other hand (UK, USA, AUSTRALIA etc) spy network are already working with your western government...

So I would rather be compromised in Russia with 0 chance of extradition there than non 0 to USA, UK GERMANY etc

(Let's say you are producing fake Coco Channel perfumes)

Re: Pavel Durov: "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026"

#12

Post by 0xy »

phyrex wrote: post #5
0xy wrote: post #3

WhatsApp by default exports your private key to Google Drive. If you have not done this, probably your conversation partner did. If neither of you have done this, don't worry the client side code is so sloppy there will be a zero click RCE that can steal all your chats anyway.

Wow, good for you, you can make A LOT of money!! https://bugbounty.meta.com/

You can make 10x this amount by handing the exploit to brokers.

Re: Pavel Durov: "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026"

#13

Post by microtonal »

iberator wrote: post #11
kepponen wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tough choice, but I would choose Whatsapp over FSB.

Why? There is a low chance of FSB successfully prosecuting you as western Citizen doing illegal/silly things in Telegram. Big Five of other hand (UK, USA, AUSTRALIA etc) spy network are already working with your western government... So I would rather be compromised in Russia with 0 chance of extradition there than non 0 to USA, UK GERMANY etc (Let's say you are producing fake Coco Channel perfumes)

It is well known that secret services of unfriendly countries use material they can get as blackmail. The risk is not getting extradited to Russia, the risk is a Russian agent pressuring someone who works at (say) a defense company to do their bidding.

Re: Pavel Durov: "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026"

#14

Post by kepponen »

iberator wrote: post #11
kepponen wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tough choice, but I would choose Whatsapp over FSB.

Why? There is a low chance of FSB successfully prosecuting you as western Citizen doing illegal/silly things in Telegram. Big Five of other hand (UK, USA, AUSTRALIA etc) spy network are already working with your western government... So I would rather be compromised in Russia with 0 chance of extradition there than non 0 to USA, UK GERMANY etc (Let's say you are producing fake Coco Channel perfumes)

I'm not big fan of US politics at the moment, but still easily choose US spying over Russia. There is still some difference between these countries.

Re: Pavel Durov: "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026"

#16

Post by evan_a_a »

He offers no proof, just “trust me bro”. If they actually had found flaws, they would’ve reported them. WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol, which is built by actual cryptographers using proper formal proofs. In contrast, MTProto is not designed from a formal cryptographic approach and is described by cryptographers as “brittle”. https://martinralbrecht.wordpress.com/2025/03/16/analysis-of...

Telegram also has no public security or cryptographic assessments, while meanwhile WhatsApp has had numerous components analyzed by cryptographers for security.

https://www.nccgroup.com/research-blog/public-report-whatsap... https://www.nccgroup.com/research-blog/public-report-whatsap... https://www.nccgroup.com/research-blog/public-report-whatsap... https://www.nccgroup.com/research-blog/public-report-whatsap... https://www.nccgroup.com/research-blog/public-report-meta-wh...

Re: Pavel Durov: "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026"

#17

Post by BobaFloutist »

iberator wrote: post #11
kepponen wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tough choice, but I would choose Whatsapp over FSB.

Why? There is a low chance of FSB successfully prosecuting you as western Citizen doing illegal/silly things in Telegram. Big Five of other hand (UK, USA, AUSTRALIA etc) spy network are already working with your western government... So I would rather be compromised in Russia with 0 chance of extradition there than non 0 to USA, UK GERMANY etc (Let's say you are producing fake Coco Channel perfumes)

>There is a low chance of FSB successfully prosecuting you as western Citizen doing illegal/silly things in Telegram

I'm more worried about electoral interference and stoking of social tensions than prosecution, personally.

Re: Pavel Durov: "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026"

#18

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

phyrex wrote: post #5
0xy wrote: post #3

WhatsApp by default exports your private key to Google Drive. If you have not done this, probably your conversation partner did. If neither of you have done this, don't worry the client side code is so sloppy there will be a zero click RCE that can steal all your chats anyway.

Wow, good for you, you can make A LOT of money!! https://bugbounty.meta.com/

Interesting how exploits already got weaponized instead of being reported to Meta...
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