2024-06-05 13:34:17
Textual content: Viviana Díaz
Each time, Telegram positive factors extra followers inside Cuba. The amenities and safety supplied by this on the spot messaging platform are incomparable: its comparatively low information expenditure, file downloading within the cloud and never in inner storage, and self-destructing messages are simply a few of these.
Nonetheless, over the last two weeks of October, an excellent a part of Cuban customers started to expertise issues with their service, in some instances with the appliance utterly disabled.
Instantly, a couple of concept circulated about what was occurring: first there was speak of an issue with Telegram itself, then a blockage of Etecsa, the Cuban telecommunications firm; whereas each events assured that they’d nothing to do with the irregularities introduced by the cellular model of the app, since its net variant appeared to work with out issues.
Cubans instantly seemed for variants, from exterior “proxies” or VPNs akin to Psiphon, Windscribe, Orbot and Betternet (a few of which additionally stopped working), and for 3 days, beginning round October 14, the uncomfortable state of affairs.
Apparently the whole lot returned to regular, however the suspicion remained as as to whether it was an inner blockage or a failure past the management of the island firm.
Based on the Union of Laptop Scientists of Cuba (UIC), Telegram’s dysfunction was not a censorship motion by Etecsa, however quite the results of an “assault” on this firm.
Web person @HowlingWolf_HWNJ, a member of the UIC, printed a sequence of pictures that confirmed Etecsa’s innocence on this state of affairs, attributing duty for the Telegram failure to a 3rd actor (nonetheless unknown) who “redirected the ACK to a null level, non-existent”.
ACK, from English acknowledgment, is the time period utilized in communications between computer systems and/or pc techniques. It’s a message that the vacation spot of the communication sends to the origin of the communication to substantiate receipt of a message.
Based on the younger pc scientist’s rationalization, Telegram was simply collateral harm from an assault targeted on SSL (port 443).
“Cell purposes use port 443 and 5222 solely. The desktop software on PC makes use of ports 443, 5222 and 80. The one legitimate connection was 80,” the UIC famous as an instance why the net model labored and the cellular model didn’t.
Additionally they warned that this port 80 was an unsafe port, wherein “the whole lot is seemingly uncovered.” Nonetheless, there was no must be alarmed about safety as a result of the encryption system utilized by Telegram didn’t enable the info to be understood.
At present, the state of affairs seems to be resolved. Thus far there are not any indicators of recent irregularities.
Telegram, developed by the brothers of Russian origin Nikolai and Pável Dúrov, is taken into account some of the safe purposes on the earth, with round 200 million customers all over the world.
In Cuba, though there are not any official figures, it’s estimated that greater than 200 thousand folks use this platform.