Ukrainian military will be restricted from using Telegram

The use of Telegram in government agencies, military formations, and critical infrastructure facilities will be restricted.

The National Security and Defense Council reported about this on the Facebook page.

On September 19, a meeting of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center, a key body for coordination and control in the field of cybersecurity, was held.

The meeting was attended by representatives of key services and ministries.

The main topic of the meeting was a discussion of threats to the national security posed by the use of Telegram, especially during a full-scale war.

The Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov provided substantiated data that Russian special services have access to the personal correspondence of Telegram users.

“They have access to even deleted messages, as well as personal data,” the statement said.

Representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted that Telegram was actively used by the enemy for:

• cyber attacks
• spreading phishing;
• spreading malware;
• establishing the geolocation of users;
• adjusting missile strikes, etc.

To minimize these threats, the decision was made to ban the installation and use of Telegram on company devices.

In particular, this applies to military personnel, employees of the security and defense sector, and companies operating critical infrastructure. The only exceptions will be those persons for whom the use of this messenger is part of their official duties.

The decision only applies to correspondence and sending documents via the messenger. The decision does not prohibit government agencies, military formations, etc. from maintaining official Telegram pages.

As previously reported, a large Russian network of profiles created to discredit the TCC and mobilize in Ukraine was recently discovered on TikTok.