In Russia, they began to look for a way to decrypt the traffic of popular instant messengers.

Con Certeza is looking for a contractor to conduct research and implement a system for intercepting and decrypting the traffic of such messengers as Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger and Telegram, Kommersant reports . The company itself is engaged in the development of technical systems and tools for the provision of operational-search measures on the networks of telecom operators.

The publication got correspondence between the representative of Con Certeza and one of the company's employees in the field of information security. The authenticity of the correspondence was confirmed by both the Bezipnik and his management. The representative of the potential customer declined to comment.

According to the text of the correspondence, the task that is put before the potential contractor is as follows (spelling is preserved):
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Consider the basic instant messengers - WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Skype for iOS and Android platforms. Prepare an expert opinion on the possibility of intercepting sensitive data, that is, identifiers of parties to communication, passwords, messages, when working with a copy of traffic, and demonstrate a prototype, if possible. Do the same, but with MITM and, if possible, demonstrate the prototype on the local stand.

Representative Con Certeza offers to get started with the popular Viber messenger.

The following remuneration is offered for the work: 130,000 rubles for conducting the main part of the study and a bonus of 230,000 rubles when results are achieved in the form of identifying the parties to the correspondence or receiving its text. On hacking each messenger is given for two months.

The cost of work is incredibly low, because, in fact, the working method of mass hacking of one of the instant messengers costs dozens, if not hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

The potential performer, he said, was ready to take on the job, provided that the results will be made publicly available, which, as expected, was refused.

Con Certeza aims to realize the identification of the participants in the correspondence and, if possible, use the MITM attack to gain access to its contents within the framework of the recently adopted package of antiterrorist laws of Yarovaya Ozerova .

At the stage of discussion of the law, technical specialists pointed out that MITM will not help in case of using end-to-end encryption by the messenger.

It should be noted that end-to-end encryption by default uses Telegram for “secret” chats, Facebook Messenger, Viber, available in the latest versions of WhatsApp.

To decrypt the end-to-end traffic, in theory, you can use the substitution of certificates at the level of telecom operators. However, this practice will put an end to online payments and Internet banking, for which this practice is unacceptable.