Why do cybercriminals use Telegram? (lemmings.world)

submitted 5 days ago by Kagiruew@lemmings.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Whenever I glance at darknet forums, people there always use Telegram for instant messaging. This seems like a strange choice for their use case, considering that Telegram is neither secure nor private[1], being centralized with Russia-controlled servers[2], phone number registration, no encryption for personal chats by default in mobile client and no encryption at all in desktop client[3], etc.

So why do they use Telegram instead of actually secure and private alternatives, like Delta Chat, XMPP+OMEMO, etc.?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] ChaosMonkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 days ago

I guess that you only see the tip of the iceberg in these "darknet forums". They probably favor visibility for the end-user instead of security, due to their target audience. XMPP and GPG is pretty popular on DNMs.

this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026

32 points (90.0% liked)

Asklemmy

53148 readers

437 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS