Military and civil servants of Ukraine have been restricted from using Telegram at work

Meeting of the National Cyber Security Coordination Center. Photo: Facebook

In Ukraine, they decided to limit the use of the Telegram messenger in state institutions, military formations and critical infrastructure facilities. From now on, employees of these fields are prohibited from installing and using Telegram on work devices.

This decision was made by the National Cyber Security Coordination Center.

At a meeting of the center, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, reported on the access of Russian special services to the personal correspondence of Telegram users, including deleted messages and personal data.

«This is a matter of national security, not freedom of speech,» noted Kyrylo Budanov.

Employees of the Security Service of Ukraine and the General Staff added that the enemy often uses Telegram for cyber attacks, phishing, spreading malicious software, establishing the geolocation of users and correcting missile strikes.

«In order to minimize these threats, a decision was made to ban the installation and use of Telegram on the official devices of employees of state authorities, military personnel, employees of the security and defense sector, as well as enterprises — operators of critical infrastructure,» the message reads.

It is also added that the exception to the prohibition of use will be only for those persons for whom the use of this messenger is part of official duties.

We will remind that the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov called the Telegram messenger a threat to the national security of Ukraine.

Previously, Pavlo Durov stated that Telegram aims to maintain neutrality and not become a «player in geopolitics».