On September 19, the National Computer Incident Response and Coordination Centre (NCIRCC) has decided to limit the use of Telegrams in government agencies, military formations and critical infrastructure facilities, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) reports.

"On September 19, a meeting of the National Coordination Cybersecurity Center (NCCC), a key body for coordination and control in the field of cybersecurity, was held," the NSDC said in a Facebook post on Friday.

It is reported that as a result of the meeting, "in order to minimize these threats, it was decided to ban the installation and use of Telegram on official devices of employees of government agencies, military personnel, employees of the security and defense sector, as well as enterprises operating critical infrastructure."

The meeting was attended by representatives of the senior staff of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, intelligence agencies, the leadership of regulatory authorities in the field of electronic communications, and also members of parliament of Ukraine.

The key topic of the meeting was the discussion of threats to national security related to the use of the Telegram messenger, especially during the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Main Intelligence Agency (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, provided reasonable evidence that Russian special services have access to the personal correspondence of Telegram users, even deleted messages, as well as their personal data. "I have always been in favor and stand for freedom of speech, but the issue of Telegram is not a matter of freedom of speech, it is a matter of national security," he stressed.

Representatives of the SBU and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted that Telegram is actively used by the enemy for cyber attacks, the spread of phishing and malicious software, the establishment of user geolocation, the correction of missile strikes and the like.

Based on the above arguments, in order to minimize threats, it was decided to ban the installation and use of the messenger on official devices of employees of public authorities, military personnel, employees of the security and defense sector, as well as enterprises operating critical infrastructure. The exception will be made only for those persons for whom the use of this messenger is part of their official duties.