The level of security and privacy in Telegram depends on how you utilize the platform. Special app features and settings can significantly increase the protection of your chats and personal data. By taking advantage of these features, you can ensure that your messages and activities are only accessible to you and your chat partners.

What is Telegram?

Telegram Messenger is a very popular chat app that has been around since 2013, but its popularity started to increase in 2019-2020. In particular, it became popular among protestors, used to organize large groups. An important factor is Telegram's powerful group chat feature, allowing a Telegram group to contain up to 200,000 members. Additionally, the app effectively provides "channels" for information updates, and users have the ability to keep their information private by hiding their phone number.
Telegram's widespread use during protest activities has solidified its reputation as a safe and secure communication tool. However, there are still controversies surrounding the safety and security level of this application.
Is Telegram encrypted?
To be exact, all chats and calls on Telegram are encrypted. In particular, Telegram offers end-to-end encryption for direct calls and messages if you select the "Secret Chats" option. Several safety features are included, including the ability to turn off message forwarding in secret chats and set a self-destruct timer from one second to a week.
However, end-to-end encryption doesn't apply to all other types of chats, group calls, live streams, groups, and channels. Instead, Telegram uses secure client-server encryption. Telegram asserts that all data stored on its servers is encrypted and that these data protection keys are managed independently and never combined with the data they protect.
Encryption plays an important role in protecting data privacy. While end-to-end encryption is considered the gold standard, client-server encryption also plays an important role in ensuring that your messages cannot be decrypted by anyone, regardless of the provider. your Internet service provider, the owner of the Wi-Fi router you connect to, or any third party that tries to interfere.
Are there any security concerns with Telegram?
Telegram stores user data, including usernames, IP addresses, and device information, on their servers. According to its privacy policy, Telegram will only disclose this information to the authorities if it receives an order from a court regarding terrorism-related activities. However, there have been some incidents where user data appeared on dark websites, where personal information was at risk of being compromised.
The "People Nearby" feature in Telegram allows you to see a list of Telegram users near your location, not just those in your contacts but also any Telegram users who have enabled the feature. However, displaying the exact location of nearby people has raised concerns about revealing location information to unwanted parties, including hackers. Therefore, users are advised to disable this feature to protect their privacy.
Although Telegram is considered an open source application, only its client-side open source code is available. Telegram's server-side source code is not disclosed. Telegram uses its own protocol, MTProto, to encrypt messages, and they have not yet revealed details on how this encryption works.
How secure is Telegram?
Telegram is safe, especially if you use it with stricter privacy settings. For maximum security when using Telegram, take the following measures:
1.Always use Secret Chats to ensure messages are end-to-end encrypted
2.Turn off People Nearby to protect your location
3.Use a VPN to protect your IP address