The Security Blanket of the Chat World: An Analytic Evaluation and a User Study of Telegram
2017
The computer security community has advocated
widespread adoption of secure communication tools to protect
personal privacy. Several popular communication tools have
adopted end-to-end encryption (e.g., WhatsApp, iMessage), or
promoted security features as selling points (e.g., Telegram,
Signal). However, previous studies have shown that users may
not understand the security features of the tools they are using,
and may not be using them correctly. In this paper, we present a
study of Telegram using two complementary methods: (1) a labbased
user study (11 novices and 11 Telegram users), and (2) a
hybrid analytical approach combining cognitive walk-through
and heuristic evaluation to analyse Telegram’s user interface.
Participants who use Telegram feel secure because they feel
they are using a secure tool, but in reality Telegram offers
limited security benefits to most of its users. Most participants
develop a habit of using the less secure default chat mode at all
times. We also uncover several user interface design issues that
impact security, including technical jargon, inconsistent use of
terminology, and making some security features clear and others
not. For instance, use of the end-to-end-encrypted Secret Chat
mode requires both the sender and recipient be online at the same
time, and Secret Chat does not support group conversations.
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