Telegram ensures highest security for IP addresses during calls

In response to cyber-security researcher Denis Simonov, who demonstrated how to easily access the IP address of any account on the encrypted messaging app Telegram using a simple tool, the company took action.

New Delhi: Encrypted messaging platform Telegram on Saturday said it is the most secure mass market messenger when it comes to protecting IP addresses during calls.

The company responded to a cyber-security researcher called Denis Simonov, who showcased it was easy to access the IP address of any account on encrypted messaging app Telegram with a simple tool.

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In a statement to IANS, Telegram said it is the only platform that doesn’t use peer-to-peer for all calls by default.

“Only those on a user’s contact list (trusted parties) are able to see their IP address when making a call. Calls with strangers are routed through Telegram’s servers specifically for the purpose of masking IP addresses,” the company said.

Telegram said it also gives users an option to disable peer-to-peer calls for contacts completely, routing all calls through the servers.

“This doesn’t constitute a ‘leak’ since IP addresses are shared by technical necessity to facilitate peer-to-peer calls,” the company mentioned.

According to Telegram, in other messaging platforms, all the calls use peer-to-peer networking by default and share IP addresses without giving any option to their users to change this.

Simonov wrote in a post that recently, he was faced with the task of determining the IP address of his interlocutor in the Telegram messenger.

“For this purpose, I used the network traffic analysis tool Wireshark, where I detected STUN protocol traffic,” he mentioned.

STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) is a standardised protocol designed to help devices behind NAT (Network Address Translation) determine their external IP address and the type of NAT that is used on their gateway.

“After spending a little time, I decided to automate the process of obtaining the IP of my counterpart in Telegram using the console version of Wireshark – tshark,” the researcher added.