Photo: Pixabay

A decision of the National Cyber Security Coordination Center (NCCC) to restrict the use of the Telegram messenger for official correspondence is of a recommendatory nature for the government, but does not concern official Telegram channels of state authorities, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksandr Lytvynenko has said on Friday.

"According to the results of the meeting, it is recommended to limit the use of the Telegram messenger for official correspondence for official purposes and on official devices. The decision of the NCCC is of a recommendatory nature for the government, but it does not concern the official Telegram channels of state authorities," he said in a comment posted on the Facebook page of the NSDC.

As reported, on September 19, the NCCC decided to limit the use of Telegram in public authorities, military formations, and critical infrastructure facilities.

Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov cited at the meeting substantiated data on the availability of Russian special services have access to the personal correspondence of Telegram users, even deleted messages, as well as their personal data. Representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) noted that Telegram is actively used by the enemy for cyberattacks, spreading phishing and malware, detecting the geolocation of users, adjusting missile strikes, etc.

In order to minimize threats, a decision was made to ban the installation and use of the messenger on official devices of employees of state authorities, military personnel, security and defense sector employees, as well as enterprises-operators of critical infrastructure. The only exception will be persons for whom the use of this messenger is part of their official duties.

Also, the restriction does not apply to personal smartphones of civil servants.