"Last week, Russia announced it will require that all new phones and tablets sold within its borders pre-install a messaging app called Max. Security experts who did technical analyses of Max’s software for Forbes said it’s a privacy nightmare.
While Russia’s interior ministry has claimed the app, made by Russian social media giant VK, is more secure than competitors, a cybersecurity researcher found that Max constantly monitored all user activity on the app with“excessive tracking.” The researcher, who completed the analysis with phone forensics tool Corellium, asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals by Russian intelligence agencies.
“This app just gathers all the data and logs it. I don’t remember seeing that in any messenger app,” they said. “Max is not secure at all. There is no cryptography, unless it’s hidden very well, but I doubt that. It is insecure by design to serve its purpose: people surveillance.”
Max was launched in March, and appears to be limited to Russian and Belarussian phone numbers. Functionally it works similar to messaging apps like Telegram and Whatsapp, but it also has an AI chatbot called GigaChat 2.0 and the ability to book travel and make bank transfers."
#Russia#CyberSecurity#Messaging#Privacy#LocationTracking#Spyware#Surveillance
