> they are not trained or known as cryptographers, that's a warning sign. Actually, they are. Or a few of Durov's family members are. IIRC it was his brother t

> they are not trained or known as cryptographers, that's a warning sign. Actually, they are. Or a few of Durov's family members are. IIRC it was his brother that developed Telegram's cryptography. His family has a pretty impressive academic mathematical background. The warning sign is that, academic credentials or not, they still rolled their own crypto, and didn't use common ( = "crypto community" vetted/approved) cryptographic primitives and techniques, but came up with new stuff that isn't vetted properly. And that is a warning sign. What is also problematic is that Telegram's encryption is not enabled by default. Even if the crypto turns out to be flawless, that is still a big problem. One other thing I wonder sometimes myself--though I'm not knowledgeable enough to lean either way--is about this crypto community. I know it's international, in principle. But how inclusive is it in practice? I'm probably biased from reading most on the topic via HN, but how much of it is US-based? Does Russian academia take part in it too? Honest question. BTW I use Telegram (also Whatsapp, Signal and recently Matrix) myself. I just don't consider any of it (Telegram) encrypted. Really fast postcards. But the UI and functionality (especially with the desktop app) is a joy. Why can't they all just team up or something and have the Telegram guys do the UX part? :)