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Belarus’s forced landing of Lithuania-bound Ryanair plane sparks outrage
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to land on Sunday in Minsk, where a Belarusian opposition activist on board was detained, prompting international condemnation. EU member Lithuania urged the European Union and NATO to respond, Germany called for an immediate explanation and Poland’s prime minister called it a “reprehensible act of state terrorism”. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Belarus’s action was “utterly unacceptable”. The aircraft, flying from Athens to Vilnius, had almost reached Lithuania when it changed direction and was escorted to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, after reports that it had explosives on board, according to an online flight tracker and BelTA state news agency. Belarusian law e...
Telegram Introduces Voice Chat Feature for Channels
Image sourced from The Independent Telegram has released a new update that includes recordable voice chats, rich lists of participants, raise hand mechanics, invite links for speakers and listeners, voice chat titles, and a way for public figures to join voice chats as their channels. Here’s a closer look at all the new features and how to enable them: Limitless Voice Chats Admins of channels and public groups can now host voice chats for millions of live listeners. No matter how popular a talk gets, new people will be able to tune in. Telegram says that this is like public radio reinvented for the 21st century. To start a Voice Chat, open the profile of any group or channel where you’re an admin, tap (⋮) or (⋯) and select Start Voice Chat. /* custom css */ .t...
Scammers are Selling Fake COVID-19 Vaccines for up to $1,200
Underground scammers are selling fake COVID-19 vaccines. The majority of sellers originated in France, Germany, the UK, and the USA, and the prices per dose range from $250 to $1,200, with an average cost of about $500. Scammers and buyers usually get in contact via encrypted messaging apps like Wickr and Telegram, while payments are requested in the form of cryptocurrency, primarily Bitcoin. The majority of these underground sellers have made between 100-500 transactions. With the information available to Kaspersky experts, it’s impossible to tell how many doses of the vaccine being advertised online are actual doses (many medical facilities have found themselves with leftover doses) and how many advertisements are a scam. “You can find just about anything on the Darknet, so it’s not surp...
Telegram Introduces Auto-Delete and Expiring Invite Features
Image sourced from The Independent Telegram has released a new update that includes an auto-delete timer for messages in any chat, as well as new flexible invite links. Auto-Delete Messages Telegram users can now enable an auto-delete timer in all chats, which will automatically erase messages for all participants either 24 hours or 7 days after sending. Auto-delete only applies to messages sent after the timer is set, earlier messages will stay in the chat history. Unlike in Secret Chats, the countdown starts when messages are sent, not read. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_130.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_130.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } To enable the timer on Android, tap ⋮ > Clear History then choose a duration. On iOS, press and hold a message, tap Select > Clear C...
Russia issues arrest warrant for Alexei Navalny ally
Russia has issued an arrest warrant for Leonid Volkov, a close ally of poisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to a media report. Mr Volkov had been organising protests from his base in Lithuania to demand the release of the opposition leader, who was detained last month as he entered Russia. A protest was planned for this Sunday, with Mr Volkov urging people to gather near their homes and light candles in heart shapes to flood social media. “You will raise your phone flashlights – and someone, maybe, will bring candles – and form a heart shape with them.. You will take a picture of it from above, from one of the apartments, and post it on Instagram,” he wrote in a Facebook post promoting the demonstration. His actions have angered Russian authorities, who have been granted an ar...
WhatsApp is Behind the “Largest Digital Migration in History”, says Telegram Founder
Facebook’s recent attempt to update WhatsApp’s privacy policy has left many users concerned and searching for a more ‘secure’ messaging platform, like Telegram. This move has sparked what Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, says is “the largest digital migration in human history” after the platform saw a massive increase in active users. In a recent statement, Durov revealed that a number of political leaders and numerous public organizations, rely on Telegram to combat misinformation and spread awareness about important issues in their societies. He goes on to say that “unlike other networks, Telegram doesn’t use nontransparent algorithms to decide whether a subscriber will see content they subscribed to or not. As a result, Telegram channels are the o...
WhatsApp delays data sharing change after backlash
WhatsApp on Friday postponed a data-sharing change as users concerned about privacy fled the Facebook-owned messaging service and flocked to rivals Telegram and Signal. The smartphone app, a huge hit across the world, cancelled its February 8 deadline for accepting an update to its terms concerning sharing data with Facebook, saying it would use the pause to clear up misinformation around privacy and security. “We’ve heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update,” WhatsApp said in a blog post. “This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook.” It said it would instead “go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15.” The update concerns how merchants using WhatsApp to cha...
Signal outage keeps messages from sending
If you’re having trouble sending messages in the secure messaging app Signal, it may be due to technical difficulties the company says are affecting the app on Friday. Signal allows for secure and encrypted video, voice, and text communication, but users were greeted this morning with messages that failed to send. Signal confirmed the issue on its official Twitter account with the promise that it would “restore service as quickly as possible.” Signal is experiencing technical difficulties. We are working hard to restore service as quickly as possible. — Signal (@signalapp) January 15, 2021 In the last week, Signal reported a surge of new users to its app following a recommendation from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a new WhatsApp privacy policy that may have driven users away from the Facebook-o...
Telegram Reaches 500 Million User Milestone
Image sourced from The Independent Telegram has officially surpassed 500 million users – this comes after more than 25 million people downloaded the platform in the last 72 hours. “Twenty-five million users have joined Telegram in the last 72 hours. 38% of them are from Asia, 27% from Europe, 21% from Latin America, and 8% from MENA,” says Telegram Founder, Pavel Durov. The rise in demand is attributed to Facebook’s recent move to update WhatsApp’s terms of service and privacy policy – leaving many WhatsApp users concerned and searching for a more secure messaging platform, like Telegram. “People no longer want to exchange their privacy for free services. They no longer want to be held hostage by tech monopolies that seem to think they can get away with anything as long as their apps have ...
7 Tips to Ensure Telegram is Private and Secure
When discussing the privacy and security of messenger apps, one needs to understand that the Telegram’s functionality goes beyond the simple messages exchange and has many surprising features. With Telegrams’ user-base exceeding over 500 million active monthly users, it now combines elements of a massive communication hub, messaging board and social media – and its security and privacy concepts differ from others. Here are seven tips to make sure Telegram is as secure as possible, as told by Kaspersky researchers: Pick a username and use it instead of your actual name or associated phone number when chatting with others. Enable 2FA for your account. If someone tries to take control over your account, hijacking a voice call or a text message with a temporary verification code won’t be enoug...
5 Ways to Protect Private User Data on Messaging Apps
Facebook recently asked WhatsApp users to accept its updated terms of service and privacy policy – or else lose access to the app. “As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies. We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings,” reads WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy. “This includes helping improve infrastructure and delivery systems, understanding how our Services or theirs are used, securing systems, and fighting spam, abuse, or infringement activities.” This move has left many WhatsApp users concerned and searching for a more secure mes...
