Authorities are abandoning traditional messengers and offering an alternative – what is known about the Russian application that they want to replace Telegram – September 13, 2024 Publication in CHAT: Russia Russian officials are prohibited from using well-known messengers Source: Alexey Volkhonsky / V1.RU For over a year now, Russian authorities have not been allowed to use foreign messengers for work purposes. This is what civil servants from various institutions continue to report. This time, St. Petersburg officials were prohibited from using Telegram and WhatsApp* (owned by the Meta company, recognized as extremist in Russia, its activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation). And then they offered an alternative to the usual communication channels - Prevent the facts of compromising, destroying or modifying restricted information, as well as preventing the prerequisites for such facts in the executive bodies of state power of St. Petersburg. I ask you to exclude the use of foreign messengers (WhatsApp*, Telegram, etc.) for the exchange of official information," says the letter from the Information and Communications Committee, which was received by the St. Petersburg authorities. in early September. It was made available to our colleagues from Fontanka. For whom messengers are prohibited. The departure of foreign messengers began a long time ago. Back in October 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade called on industrial enterprises to switch to Russian messengers to ensure cybersecurity. Industrial companies must use services included in the register of domestic software. This applies to the use of messengers on all devices. The Kremlin also does not use foreign applications for communication. This was stated by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov at a conference on August 27. “In the presidential administration, we do not use a single messenger for official purposes,” he explained. Now a fine of up to 700 thousand rubles is provided for their use. This law was adopted by the State Duma in June 2023. Roskomnadzor has compiled a list of nine messengers that are considered foreign and prohibited for use. Among them are Telegram and WhatsApp*. Also, foreign applications as of March 1, 2023 include: Discord, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Snapchat, Threema, Viber and WeChat. According to the law, civil servants will no longer be able to use these messengers to transfer payment documents and personal data when providing services. They are prohibited not only for civil servants. Banks and state-owned companies will also no longer be able to use Telegram and WhatsApp* for work. What alternative has already been found in Smolny. Instead of Telegram, WhatsApp* and other prohibited messengers, they suggest using the home eXpress. eXpress is a corporate communications platform. Its creators position it as a corporate premium application (an application with an extended set of functions) used in large companies with tens and hundreds of thousands of users. A quick review shows that eXpress is something like Zoom and Telegram in one bottle. With it, you can make video conferences and audio calls, communicate in personal and group chats and write your own chatbots. Emoticons, stickers, voice messages and reactions are also available. Contacts can be searched in the company system or in the company directory. The application can also be integrated with mail services. It is available on all operating systems, including the most popular iOS, Android, MacOS and Windows. That is, it is not necessary to work on friendly Astra Linux (but it is, of course, also supported. Make sure that information security is presented as one of the advantages of the messenger). As described on its website, when logging in, the user must go through three-factor authentication: log in to the company account, enter the SMS code and a personal password known only to him. The messenger prohibits the transfer and storage of data on external media, can delete messages immediately after reading or after a certain time, and also checks all incoming files with a built-in antivirus. And with a command from the company server, you can close all open sessions on a mobile phone and delete all data, which is important, for example, in the event of dismissal, a Fontanka correspondent installed the eXpress application and registered a public account. Its functionality is limited - you will not be able to make calls, use video calls and set up automatic deletion of messages. This is possible only in the paid corporate version. Having accessed the address book by phone, the messenger found 24 contacts. They turned out to be representatives of committees, district administrations, subordinate institutions, state banks and state corporations. More than 1.1 million users have already switched to this application (as follows from the service presentation). It is known that the platform is indeed already widely used among employees of Russian state companies. In 2021, Rosatom transferred its specialists to eXpress, and Russian railways also use the application. Norilsk Nickel created its own corporate messenger based on eXpress. In 2022, the media wrote that the application was recommended to Kuzbass officials as an alternative to foreign messengers*. It belongs to the Meta company, recognized as extremist in Russia, its activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation. Source link Source link
