The phones of 50,000 individuals, including human rights activists and journalists, have been targeted by surveillance tools that were used by numerous governments. These tools can hack any iOS and Android phone, and there is no way to protect your device from it. It doesn't matter which apps you use, because the system is breached on a deeper level.

According to the Snowden revelations, both Apple and Google are part of the global surveillance program that implies that these companies have to, among other things, implement backdoors into their mobile operating systems. These backdoors, usually disguised as security bugs, allow US agencies to access information on any smartphone in the world.

The problem with such backdoors is that they are never exclusive to just one party. Anybody can exploit them. So if a US security agency can hack an iOS or Android phone, any other organization that uncovers these backdoors can do the same. Unsurprisingly, this is exactly what has been taking place: an Israeli company called NSO Group has been selling access to the spying tools that allowed third parties to hack tens of thousands of phones.

Since at least 2018, I have been aware that one of my phone numbers was included in a list of potential targets of such surveillance tools (although a source from the NSO Group denies it). Personally, I wasn't worried: I’ve got used to assuming that all my phones were compromised. Anyone who gains access to my private data will be utterly disappointed – they will have to go through thousands of concept designs for Telegram features and millions of messages related to our product development process. They won't find any important information there.

However, these surveillance tools are also used against people far more prominent than me. For example, they were employed to spy on 14 heads of state. The existence of backdoors in crucial infrastructure and software creates a huge challenge for humanity. That's why I have been calling upon the governments of the world to start acting against the Apple-Google duopoly in the smartphone market and to force them to open their closed ecosystems and allow for more competition.

So far, even though the current market monopolization increases costs and violates privacy and freedom of speech of billions, government officials have been very slow to act. I hope the news that they themselves have been targeted by these surveillance tools will prompt politicians to change their minds.

P. Durov.

Btw, it is another guy who consider state or government as some autonomous thing instead of system controlled by ruling class.

Hackers against the eatery boss. 200-day war.

The first day

A hacker comes to a public dining room and is outraged to discover that just about anyone can unscrew the salt shaker on the table and put anything there. The hacker comes home and writes an angry letter to the eatery boss: "I, meG @ Duc | <, discovered a vulnerability in the salt shaker in your dining room. An intruder can open the salt shaker and put poison in there! Take urgent action!"

Second day

The boss, among other business letters, requests for food deliveries and courier notifications, receives a letter and shrugs: "Who just came up with this nonsense?"

Day 5

The hacker comes to the dining room, pours poison into all the salt shakers. Three hundred people die, the boss is dragged to the courts for three months and finally acquitted for lack of corpus delicti. The hacker writes a letter in the style of "Well, have you seen it?".

Day 96

The boss buys specially designed salt shakers with a combination lock. Visitors to the canteen have strong feeling that they do not understand something in this life.

Day 97

The hacker discovers that the holes in the salt shakers let the salt pass in both directions. And not only salt, but in general anything you like. He writes an indignant letter to the boss and pisses in all the salt shakers of the dining room. Three hundred people stop attending this canteen altogether, thirty end up in hospitals with poisoning. The hacker sends a message to the boss - "Well, how are you?" The boss, meanwhile, are dragged around the courts for three months and are given a suspended year.

Day 188

The boss of the eatery vows to not work in any food related industry ever again, better is to quietly cut the forest in Siberia. Engineers are working on a new one-way valve salt shaker. The waitresses, meanwhile, are removing all the old salt shakers and handing out the salt by hand.

Day 190th

A hacker pulls a salt shaker out of the dining room and examines its device at home. Writes an angry letter to the boss: "I, meG @ Duc | <, stole a salt shaker and I find this outrageous! Anyone can steal a salt shaker from your dining room!", After this the teetotal boss goes home and drinks vodka.

Day 193

The hacker discovers that all the salt shakers in the dining room are chained to the tables. He comes to the next hacker SPRYG convention and reports on his successes, receiving there a well-deserved award for protecting the interests of society and the consumer. Fortunately, the boss does not know anything about this and does not get drunk ahead of time.

Day 194

As part of a devilishly ingeniously thought-out operation, hackers all SPRYG break into the dining room and pour salt from all the salt shakers into their pockets. The hacker meG @ Duc | <writes an indignant letter to the boss, hinting that there is no concern for the diners in the cafeteria and any reptile can deprive honest people of salt in an instant. A salt dispenser with authorization is absolutely necessary.

Day 196

The engineers work hard on a new salt shaker while the waitresses hand out the salt again. The boss goes on vacation to the Seychelles and dines only in the room, for his own safety avoiding any eatery, restaurants and bars.

Day 200

Visitors to the canteen are horrified to find that in order to add salt, they have to go to the waiter, show their passport, and get a special 8-digit one-time code for the salt shaker. To obtain pepper, the procedure must be repeated.