The State Duma told about the rules of access to the national messenger

The national messenger, which is currently being developed in Russia, will not allow the user to register using a foreign SIM card, with fake and virtual numbers. Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, told Izvestia about this on June 10.

"You can register there only with a Russian SIM card. Moreover, I expect and hope that the majority of users will integrate their account in the national messenger with an account on government services," he said.

Gorelkin added that verified accounts will be marked, which will allow you to immediately see if a real person or agency is writing to the user, or a fraudster.

"Today, as you know, government agencies are prohibited from interacting with citizens via WhatsApp (owned by Meta, an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation — Ed.) and Telegram. This is a well-known fact, but nevertheless, many of our citizens continue to be led when an official allegedly writes to them on Telegram, although this is impossible and unacceptable, there are relevant regulations and rules. This national decision will implement this function," the deputy explained.

According to him, currently the main models by which scammers try to extract money are related to the infrastructure of foreign messengers.

"It is very difficult for our state to control and promptly delete fraudulent accounts, because this is an alien foreign infrastructure," Gorelkin stressed.

He pointed out that digital companies often have leaks of personal data, but there have been no serious incidents with government services, so using the national messenger will be safe.

"I think a model of decentralized storage of citizens' data will be implemented, when even hacking one server will not allow fraudsters to obtain data, sensitive data of our citizens," the parliamentarian concluded.

Exclusion zone: half of the substitutes for mobile applications in the Russian Federation are unsafe

What vulnerabilities are we talking about and how they can harm users?

Earlier that day, Sergei Boyarsky, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, told Izvestia that the national messenger would become a multi-project capable of solving many user tasks. According to him, users will be able to verify an account using a single authentication system — this will become a serious barrier for fraudsters.