WhatsApp and Viber began to be listened to and read by Russian intelligence services. According to a source from the POLITICS website, this is due to reaching agreements with the owners of instant messengers.

All the world's intelligence services (including Russian ones) strive to know everything about us. Nowadays, no one will be surprised by wiretapping of phones, but progress does not stand still, and the old ones are being replaced by new methods of communication - IP-telephony, chats and instant messengers, which, although slowly but steadily, are being taken under control by the security officers. Since November 2016, the FSB has received the technical ability to intercept information sent by users of such popular instant messengers as WhatsApp and Viber. Now, based on their data centers, servers have appeared connected to the SORM system (system technical means to ensure the functions of operational investigative activities). Moreover, these opportunities are not yet available to employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But they can greatly help FSB operatives in solving high-profile crimes, as well as in the fight against terrorism and corruption.

For the first time, a system of this type in our country began to be used back in 1996 for wiretapping mobile phones. Each telecom operator has equipment installed that allows security forces to gain access to the conversations of any client at any time in real time. From the point of view of the law, everything is “clean”. In addition to the fact that, in accordance with Article 23 of the Constitution, by a court decision it is permissible to limit the confidentiality of communications, the rights and freedoms of a citizen may be limited by federal law if this is necessary in order to protect the foundations of the constitutional system, morality, health, rights and legitimate interests of others persons, ensuring the country's defense and state security. In general, law enforcement officers have room to expand, justifying the need for wiretapping and the like. However, if an official court decision is required to directly listen to conversations, then court approval is not required to obtain other information (for example, about the facts of calls). In addition, an employee of the FSB or the Ministry of Internal Affairs must only obtain a warrant, but not present it to the telecom operator, who is prohibited from demanding this document in the absence of access to state secrets on his part.

Due to the growth of Internet users in 2000, the so-called SORM-2 appeared, with the help of which intelligence services can gain access to all Internet traffic passing through the provider. And despite the fact that such measures are justified mainly by the fight against extremism and terrorism, we often learn about the use of special means during the fight against the opposition. For example, this was the case with the leak through Life telephone conversations Boris Nemtsov on the eve of the next mass rallies in 2011 (no one explained where the publication got these records from), or with the verification of donors to Alexei Navalny’s election campaign during the Moscow mayoral elections in 2013. Donations took place through payment system Yandex money. Then the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation discovered that the IP addresses of more than 300 senders were located outside of Russia, which is prohibited by law. Let us immediately clarify that a foreign IP address does not mean that a foreign citizen is behind it. It also remained unclear how the Prosecutor General's Office obtained this data. According to Yandex representative Asya Melkumova, the prosecutor’s office did not contact them.

However, due to the huge amount of various data passing through the provider, and even in encrypted form, the functionality of SORM-2 seems ineffective - it was necessary to “shovel” a lot of information not related to the case of interest, while a narrower sample was needed.

Then we decided to go from the other side. On July 31, 2014, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree according to which social networks, forums and any communication sites accessible to all Internet users must connect equipment and software, allowing intelligence agencies to automatic mode receive information about the actions of users of these sites. The era of SORM-3 has begun.

However, the situation was different with instant messengers sending messages from smartphones, since they work “on top” of the infrastructure of telecom operators. If the transmitted information can still be intercepted, it is almost impossible to decrypt. Therefore, in this case there was only one way out - a hacker attack. As, for example, this happened with the Telegram correspondence between Georgy Alburov, an employee of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, and Oleg Kozlovsky, director of the NGO “Image of the Future”. At the end of April this year, oppositionists announced that their accounts had been hacked. Moreover, according to Alburov, the FSB was able to do this with the help of MTS.

By the way, foreign intelligence services do not hide the fact that they obtain information using the same methods. Let's remember the story of the FBI's attempt to obtain data from the iPhone of one of the terrorists who killed 14 people in California in December 2015. Apple then refused to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and they used the services of hackers. Moreover, some companies openly offer software for hacking both electronic media and information located on the Internet or transmitted through it. This is what Elcomsoft does (a Russian company, by the way), which, among other things, produces various “tools for forensics” necessary for retrieving data stored in phone memory, in “cloud” storage, selecting passwords for files, etc. And they are available not only for special services - anyone can buy them directly on the website.

However, all these methods were not 100% effective, so “fights” began between Russian legislators and law enforcement agencies, on the one hand, and the owners of instant messengers, on the other, to establish “cooperation.”

On September 1, 2015, amendments to the Law “On Personal Data” came into force, which require the localization of personal data on the territory of Russia. Any Russian or foreign company focused on working with Russian users must ensure the recording, systematization, accumulation, storage, and clarification of personal data of Russians using databases located in our country. Global companies face a difficult dilemma - to lose Russian market or the company’s reputation for keeping its users’ data inviolable.

However, not everyone in this situation began to sprinkle ashes on their heads. Six months later, information appeared that Google and Apple had begun transferring the personal data of their Russian users to servers in Russia. Facebook, in turn, refused to do this. Nothing has been heard about the rest, but today all the “foreigners” continue to work in Russia, which means that a certain agreement that suits everyone has been reached.

However, this can mean not only that someone has “bent in” and someone has not. And about the inevitable tendency that in the near future no one will be able to guarantee the confidentiality of information.

For example, for a long time Skype was considered one of the most secure VoIP services (IP telephony). There were no official cases of decryption and/or interception of Skype data confirmed by the developer until approximately 2008, when Austrian law enforcement authorities at a meeting with providers reported that they had carried out “legal interception of IP traffic.” A similar statement was made by a representative of the Australian internal affairs authorities. Also, thanks to an information leak, it became known that Digitask was developing a program to intercept online communications commissioned by one of the ministries of Bavaria. In addition, the Swiss authorities announced the availability of solutions for intercepting Skype. In Russia, there have been periodic proposals to ban Skype. This was justified by the security threat associated with encrypted conversations and the lack of connection to SORM. In 2010, SORM solutions were proposed that could detect and intercept Skype traffic (but not decrypt it). However, the task was made easier for everyone by Microsoft, which bought Skype in 2011. From now on, all transmitted messages began to be analyzed immediately on its servers. And in July 2012, information appeared that Microsoft itself could allow intelligence agencies to listen to conversations of Skype users, and would also provide access to personal correspondence, following the “new” policy of full assistance to law enforcement agencies. In 2013, it became known that Russian intelligence services could not only listen, but also determine the location of a Skype user.

Another VoIP for smartphones, Viber, in 2015, as required by law, transferred the data of Russian citizens, namely phone numbers and nicknames, to Russian territory.

Facebook Messenger and recently, also owned by Mark Zuckerberg, the world's most popular messenger WhatsApp (the number of users of which reaches 1 billion people) use an end-to-end encryption function, which, according to the developers, eliminates the possibility of correspondence reaching third parties. True, this is all true if the user himself activates this function, and the entire correspondence history will not be stored in unencrypted form in Google Drive or iCloud.

Electronic security analysts call Telegram one of the most secure messengers today, a project created by Pavel Durov, the founder of the VKontakte social network. In an interview with The New York Times, Pavel said that the initial idea for the app came to him back in 2011, when special forces came to his door. When the latter finally left, Durov immediately wrote to his brother Nikolai. It was then that he realized that he had no safe way to communicate with his brother. To prove the safety of his new brainchild, Durov at the end of 2013 took a risky PR move, offering anyone to hack his personal correspondence on Telegram for $200,000. No one ever got the money back then.

At the same time, despite statements about security, in Russia they understand who has the “keys” that open the correspondence. Therefore, in the spring of this year, a proposal was made to prohibit domestic officials and military personnel from conducting work correspondence with mailboxes on Gmail.com and in popular instant messengers WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram.

Finally, apparently to close this topic, in the spring of 2016 a new bill arrived in Russia, known to everyone as the “Yarova package”, developed by deputies Irina Yarovaya and Senator Viktor Ozerov. Among other things, it also dealt with the obligation for “organizers of information dissemination on the Internet” to store all information passing through them for 1 year. And if the messenger, social network, mail client or the site simply supports data encryption, then their owners are obliged to help the FSB decipher any message that the security forces need. Otherwise, the fine is from 800 thousand to 1 million rubles. On July 7, 2016, with some amendments, the package was signed by President Vladimir Putin.

The amendments, which give the government the power to oblige telecom operators to store records of telephone conversations, SMS and Internet traffic of users for up to 6 months, will come into force on July 1, 2018. Moreover, as follows from the amendments, this information will have to be stored exclusively on the territory of Russia. However, on July 19, 2016, Federation Council member Anton Belyakov introduced a bill to postpone the entry into force of these amendments to 2023.

At the end of the summer, information appeared about another bill designed to deprive instant messenger users of anonymity. Work on it was carried out by the Media Communications Union (MCU), which unites telecom operators and media holdings. According to the ISS, Internet messengers (“organizers of exchange instant messages") must conclude agreements with telecom operators by 2017, according to which each messenger will have to send information about users to the operator, and he will check this with his data about subscribers, and if something happens, report a discrepancy.

Finally, in order for the intelligence services to implement the legislative opportunities they have received this fall, the Con Certeza company, which develops systems of technical means to provide the functions of operational investigative measures (SORM) on the networks of telecom operators, began searching for a contractor to conduct a study on the possibility of intercepting and decrypting the traffic of popular instant messengers: WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Skype. And, apparently, for some messengers the required result was achieved.

IN Lately many users are interested in security mobile applications. This also applies to instant messengers, in which millions of users communicate daily. Therefore, the question arises whether it is possible to listen to Viber, and if so, how to avoid it.

Is wiretapping possible?

The program developers do not provide a complete guarantee of the protection of personal conversations and correspondence. Therefore, there is a high probability that information may leak in the messenger. However, the purpose of wiretapping is usually political intrigue, revenge, and illegal activities. Ordinary citizens are of little interest to officers, as are their personal contacts.

To understand whether Viber is being tapped, you should familiarize yourself in general terms with the work of intelligence services in the Internet space. Telephone tapping in law enforcement agencies is indicated by the abbreviation SORM-1. But besides this, intelligence agencies can monitor the traffic consumed by the user. This operation is called SORM-2. In the case of the messenger, the second option will be effective. But these methods are used only to solve crimes, and they are quite effective.

You can listen to Viber, since the channels through which information is received are not sufficiently protected. But it is unlikely that anyone will waste their time spying on a citizen who has never broken the law.

There are special programs that allow you to record conversations conducted over mobile device. They are intended mainly for industrial espionage. These utilities are installed directly on the device that is going to be monitored. Therefore, to eliminate the possibility of information leakage, you should not leave your smartphone or tablet unattended, especially in places where a large number of people have access.

Now you can communicate with relatives and friends not only through messages, phone calls, social networks, but also through messengers such as WhatsApp, Viber and others. However, it is worth considering that all such applications are not capable of providing complete protection from eavesdropping.

Signs of wiretapping

Wiretapping can be carried out by fraudsters who may be planning a crime, by law enforcement agencies if they have an interest in you, or by a commercial organization for sale or imposition of services. To find out whether your messenger is being tapped, there are basic signs:

1. Third-party applications are regularly downloaded without your permission.
2. The battery drains quickly. It cannot be ruled out that the battery may simply go bad. However, if it tends to constantly discharge over several weeks, you need to understand what the reason is. In the settings, find which applications are already running and study why the incorrect operation is happening.
3. When talking with an interlocutor, unidentified voices, noises, crackling, humming, and rustling appear. Such phenomena, if they are heard for a short time, are considered harmless. If there is prolonged interference, you should think about wiretapping. After all, when connecting a connection, the antenna is capable of releasing energy into space, which creates a gurgling sound. This indicates that someone has turned on the microphone and is listening to you.
4. Strange actions are happening with Viber or WhatsApp. For example, the backlight constantly turns on and off, the program closes itself, some data is transferred without your knowledge, downloaded files from the Internet appear. This happens because the installed bug competes with the main functions of the device. As a result, the smartphone may completely stop obeying the owner.
5. The battery is heating up. If you have some features activated, the phone is able to automatically wake up from sleep mode, which will result in double the charge consumption. However, if the gadget is not loaded with anything for several hours, and the battery is still warm, there is a possibility that someone can control your smartphone.
6. Your added contacts are receiving spam. If your friends on Viber or WhatsApp start receiving messages of an incomprehensible nature, then at a minimum, you should set up a verification in several steps: entering a password and confirming the number.
7. A mobile device running the messenger starts making noise when brought near a TV, audio speakers or computer.
8. In sent messages you can sometimes find letters that you did not send.
9. It takes a long time to establish a connection with a subscriber.
10. The device shuts down or reboots incorrectly. If you are being eavesdropped, turning off your device may interfere with the embedded algorithms. Because of this, there is a long delay before turning off, the backlight blinks, or the device simply stops responding to commands. This may be due to technical nuances, but it won't hurt to get checked.
11. Overuse of traffic. If you regularly spend Internet traffic and money on your balance, but at the same time you hardly use it, you may be eavesdropped.

The listed signs do not provide 100% proof that the phone is actually being tapped. To check Viber and WhatsApp for wiretapping, you can install special program, which will help determine and block the resolution third party applications to your messaging systems.

Ways to secure your phone

Mobile devices greatly simplify our lives, but at the same time they can appear on the other side in the hands of attackers. With their help, fraudsters can obtain data using GPS coordinates, e-mail, SMS messages, camera. To maintain confidentiality when working with the messenger, you need to have an idea of ​​ways to protect yourself:

1. You should not use public Wi-Fi.
2. If GPS is not needed, you should turn it off.
3. Change passwords regularly and use different ones on all accounts.
4. It is advisable to turn off Wi-Fi before leaving.
5. Use programs with encryptors.
6. Do not use files from unknown sources.
7. Constantly update the software on your mobile phone.
8. The password recovery password must be complex.
9. It is advisable to install a paid antivirus on all phones, tablets, and computers.

By performing all of the above manipulations, you can significantly increase protection during correspondence, file transfers and phone calls.

Interesting!

When conducting a study, the Electronic Frontier Foundation found that the most secure messenger in secret chat mode is Telegram, as well as iMessage.

Almost everyone has mobile phone, which means there is a risk of tracking a person and intercepting important data. It is impossible to get a 100% guarantee that the gadget is not wiretapped. However, you can try to protect yourself by installing two-step authentication or a paid antivirus.

Started with text messages The trend towards secure communications has also affected “voice”. In 2016, WhatsApp, Viber and ICQ announced the use of end-to-end encryption in voice calls. To provide secure calls, the Signal messenger was launched in 2014. Also two years ago, the presence of encryption in the FaceTime service was announced in.

One of the once popular solutions in this area, Skype, introduced voice protection back in the late 2000s, which upset Western intelligence agencies.

However, as the editor of MForum Analytics, an expert in the field of telecommunications, notes in a conversation with Gazeta.Ru, the transition of subscribers to IP telephony and video communication is caused primarily by ease of use and price. In fact, a client of a particular operator only needs to pay for an Internet traffic package, which is increasingly unlimited.

The speaker admits that privacy is important for a certain percentage of users, but certainly not for the majority. He expressed the same opinion in a conversation with Gazeta.Ru and CEO information and analytical agency TelecomDaily. In his opinion,

the number of subscribers switching to service solutions due to concerns about confidentiality does not exceed 10%.

In general, market experts agree that Internet services do provide a higher level of confidentiality of conversations than regular mobile communications.

Let us recall that operators, according to Russian law, are required to install SORM-1 on their networks, which allows law enforcement agencies to gain access to any conversation. In 2014, the authorities became concerned about the data transmitted on the network, obliging providers to install the so-called SORM-3. Thanks to the system, the conversation, which is information in digital format, remains with the operator. However, due to coding, understanding this data packet, how and what exactly the user said, and at what moment he looked at pictures with cats, remains a difficult task for law enforcement officers.

“At the same time, one should not overestimate the security of international instant messengers; it is not 100%, and the intelligence services of various countries probably have the notorious “keys” to some services,” warns Boyko.

Annoying privacy

The founder of the Internet Protection Society, Leonid, told Gazeta.Ru that he had not encountered specific cases of wiretapping of voice calls in Skype, Viber or WhatsApp.

According to him, people who pay increased attention to privacy prefer FaceTime. But he found it difficult to answer what exactly caused this choice: taste preferences or really powerful protection the service itself.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on CNN via FaceTime

Volkov also said that theoretically, instant messengers with call support cannot be considered completely safe, but there is a long way to go from theoretical vulnerability to practical interceptions.

“First of all, because there are much simpler ways to obtain information: plant a Trojan that will record the “voice” on the device,” explains the IT specialist.

The publication’s interlocutor believes that this method is several times more effective and cheaper. An expert from ESET Russia also warned about installing malicious software on a user’s device in a conversation with Gazeta.Ru.

At the same time, in his opinion, data transmitted via the Internet is easier to intercept than in operator networks.

“There are many possible connection points: in local network, via public Wi-Fi, from providers, etc. You don't need expensive equipment for this - just regular computer or a tablet with hacker software,” the speaker noted.

But if strong encryption is used, then even after intercepting the traffic, the attacker will not be able to “listen” to it, continues Zheleznyakov.

The inability of intelligence agencies to reach the contents of calls organized using an Internet connection can be an irritation for the authorities. Kuskov called the lack of SORM in communication services a problem from the government’s point of view.

The analyst predicts that in the future there will be “fights” between legislators together with the owners of instant messengers to establish “cooperation.”

The speaker is not sure whether the adoption of the “Yarovaya package” can be considered an attempt to subordinate the secret services to Skype, Viber and WhatsApp, since it is still unclear how the law will work and what information is needed on it. The agency itself said last week that the document does not require mandatory certification of encryption tools on the Internet.

Volkov even called the “Yarovaya package” nonsense. “Even more traffic will be written and stored on it, and, therefore, it will be even more difficult to find anything valuable in it,” the expert added.

Difficult to predict future

The enormous growth in popularity of applications that support voice calls around the world is due, as in other cases with innovative products, to the development of gadgets and high-speed mobile internet(3G and LTE).

After the transition Russian operators In favor of the package model of providing their classic services, the savings from calls via Skype or Viber began to disappear. But thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones and Wi-Fi connections, it remains comfortable to use applications and the ability to make calls without unnecessary difficulties when traveling to other countries.

One of the latest trends in the market has been the active distribution of video content. The phenomenon has not spared the segment of Internet communication services. Thus, according to ICQ, almost 59% of calling users communicate via video conference.

Boyko and Kuskov believe that in Russia it is difficult to predict the future not only of “voice” services, but also of any other telecom products.

“We have too high a probability of political decisions that could affect this market", predicts the MForum analyst.

But the speaker reassures: if force majeure does not arise, then there is no doubt about the further growth in popularity of various international messengers due to their global nature and ease of implementation.

In the coming year, the authorities may develop amendments to the Law “On Communications” that will regulate the activities of Internet services. In particular, the head of .

Telecom corporations may also be interested in preparing legal regulations that will affect the operation of voice calls on the network.

“Russian telecom operators have few levers that would allow them to retain subscribers voice services and SMS. If they don’t use their lobby to get market regulators to directly ban the actions of competitors, then they have little chance,” Boyko said.

At the same time, companies have the opportunity to work in cooperation with services, receiving a share of revenue from them in exchange for network settings, the expert added.

Manipulations with channel capacity and data transfer speeds can, on the contrary, become an attempt at blackmail on the part of operators, Kuskov believes. But one company, according to the analyst, will not be able to change the situation, and if the operators collude, it will join in.