“New age of privacy”
In early December, the developers of Telegram announced a global update. One of the key innovations is that now a Telegram account can be registered without a SIM card using blockchain-based anonymous numbers. You can buy such numbers on the Fragment platform. The cost of a random number is estimated at 9 TON (about 1 thousand rubles), and for those who want to buy “gold” and recognizable numbers, they added the opportunity to buy at auction.
In the press release for the update, the developers connect innovation with “a new age of privacy”. Thus, according to the creators of the service, messaging users will be able to feel even more secure.
By the way, Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily, noted in an interview with socialbites.ca that the purchase of anonymous numbers for registration in the messenger may interest the owners of the so-called “secret” Telegram channels.
“The new feature is of course attracting the attention of hidden Telegram channels whose owners do not want to advertise. However, we do not welcome this in terms of law and order.
It is likely that this will lead Roskomnadzor to an active stage – perhaps they will be asked to cancel the anonymous numbers on the territory of Russia.
Because Roskomnadzor fought for the identification of users in all messengers by phone number, and now it turns out that this is absolutely not necessary, ”the statement said.
Anton Labaznov, Director General of the law firm Labaznov and Partners, in an interview with socialbites.ca recalled that in October 2018, the Russian government approved the rules under which the messenger operator is obliged to check the link of the account. phone number. In addition, the number must be registered to a real person.
“Usually, the organizer of the messaging service asks the user to perform actions using the subscriber number by entering an SMS code or a combination of digits of the phone number from the incoming call. After that, the issuer is obliged to send a request to the mobile operator about the availability of the number in the database of the latter. As a result, the service organizer receives a positive or negative response and makes the final decision on user registration. In this case, passport data is not transferred, but this type of identity allows you to avoid fraud, extremism, terrorism and other criminal acts on social networks.
The expert does not exclude the possibility of the emergence of a large number of accounts for the purpose of engaging in fraudulent activities or illegal commercial activities. In addition, the impossibility of tracking geolocation makes the use of the messenger almost completely anonymous.
“There is currently no direct legislative ban on the use of virtual numbers in Russia. Administrative responsibility is provided by the owners for the possibility of using anonymizers and VPN services for accessing information resources.
But this has nothing to do with the sale and use of virtual numbers. The introduction of restrictions and bans seems quite likely, provided that there are serious reasons and grounds for their introduction – for example, the number of crimes or crimes using anonymous numbers will increase, ”said Labaznov.
The expert believes that it is difficult to judge at this time, since it is not known how widespread this innovation will be in Russian realities.
A new era in fraud?
Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Information Policy Committee, in an interview with socialbites.ca expressed confidence that the innovation will not be popular with cyber crooks.
“Phone numbers sold in the Fragment auction can only be used to link to a Telegram account. These are internal virtual numbers, you can only call another messenger user from them. It is impossible to receive SMS to such a number, that is, it is impossible to connect it to any service. Therefore, Telegram anonymous virtual numbers are unlikely to be popular with scammers – besides, this is a paid and relatively expensive service, ”says Gorelkin.
Igor Bederov, head of the information and analytical research department of T.Hunter, shared a similar opinion with socialbites.ca.
“What is the Fragment platform? This is probably a platform created by Durov himself for additional income. This is a platform where, among other things, trade aliases are applied. Let’s be more specific – a virtual number costs 9 TON. This is very expensive and not so anonymous compared to what a user can buy on the Internet – buying a SIM card in full collapse costs 200 rubles. “It costs about the same amount of money to buy a virtual SIM card somewhere abroad and pay for it with cryptocurrency, it will be much safer for the end user,” Bederov said.
According to the expert, not a single cybercriminal will buy Telegram virtual numbers, not only because of the high cost, but also because of distrust of Telegram founder Pavel Durov.
“Most likely, not a single cybercriminal will take advantage of Durov’s offer because everyone already knows that Durov reads the correspondence, completely controls all of his users, and sells their data. Google, Apple and Yandex understand this very well. No one wants to give him his business information, credit card data and all the ins and outs that come with it. Among other things, we have already studied this story and learned that the use of the Fragment platform allows you to increase the degree of user identification, rather than lower it,” says Bederov.
However, the company’s head of information and analytics research T.Hunter added that the emergence of the Fragment platform, where users can buy nicknames and virtual anonymous numbers, will lead to an increase in fake offers under the guise of Fragment.
“Intruders will naturally take advantage of this story with the sale of numbers and nicknames through the Fragment platform. Left bots, left services, the sites where they will offer such services will begin to rive. Maybe with discounts, and this will be the usual outright scam, ”says the expert.