The Max messenger may surveil different users in different ways, Meduza writes...

The Max messenger may surveil different users in different ways, Meduza\ writes, citing a report by the digital security lab InterSecLab.

The main points from it:

▪️ Separately for each account in Max, it is possible to configure: transcription of voice messages on VK servers, blocking the sending of messages when a VPN is detected, collection of data about the user's actions in the app, as well as the transfer of information about the user's identity to third-party services. The researchers also found a feature that was not active at the time of testing: Max can obtain information about all the apps installed on the user's device;

▪️ Max has no end-to-end encryption; VK has access to the contents of users' correspondence. In the messenger's “secret chats,” messages are not encrypted, but are simply deleted on a timer;

▪️ Every time it launches, Max sends VK information about the user's network environment: their public IP address, information about their mobile operator, VPN operation, and the availability of other internet services. All of this is sent to VK as a single report, and the data is updated every time the app is launched;

▪️ The user's entire address book is uploaded to VK servers in plaintext. The names in it are matched with phone numbers, and every time changes are made, this data is synchronized. At the same time, VK gains access to the numbers even of people who have never registered in Max.

\ — the Russian authorities consider it a foreign agent and an undesirable organization