Kremlin constantly spy on MAX users

Security researchers have discovered that the Max app, which Russia will require on all phones by default, carries out “excessive tracking”, which confirms its concern that it will be utilized for surveillance.

Russia announced, that it will require that all fresh phones and tablets sold on its premises be pre-equipped with an application to send messages called Max. safety experts who conducted method analysis of Max software for Forbes magazine, They said it was a nightmare for privacy.

Although the Russian Interior Ministry claims that the application, created by the Russian giant social media VK, is safer than competition applications, cybersecurity investigator found that Max was constantly monitoring all user activity in the application, utilizing “excessive tracking”. The researcher, who conducted the analysis utilizing the Corellium telephone analysis tool, requested anonymity for fear of repression by Russian intelligence agencies.

"This application simply collects all data and records it. I do not remember seeing anything like this in any communicator," they said. ‘Max is not safe at all. There's no cryptography, unless it's very well hidden, but I uncertainty it. It is inherently dangerous to carry out its task: surveillance of people."

Max was launched in March and appears to be limited to Russian and Belarusian telephone numbers. It is functionally akin to communicators specified as Telegram and WhatsApp, but besides features a chatbot based on artificial intelligence called GigaChat 2.0 and a function of booking travel and making bank transfers. The investigator besides noted that Max requested approval to access specified things as camera and microphone, as did standard mobile applications. He added that his code is mostly based on TamTam, an older communicator created by VK.

Patrick Wardle, a erstwhile NSA analyst and CEO of DoubleYou, a safety specialist for Apple, took note of the analysis and confirmed its findings. Wardle besides noted that Max's code indicates a built-in, very accurate background location tracking function. "Real-time location and access to citizen communication – what more could an authoritarian government want?" he said.

Until the publication VK did not answer to the request for comment. The company is best known as the creator of the largest Russian community portal Vkontake. Currently, the company is effectively controlled by the state; since 2021, the majority shareholder has been a number of Russian companies, including state Gazprom and Rostec. Her president, Vladimir Kirijenko, is the boy of Sergei Kirijenko, Putin's chief of staff. At the beginning of this month, VK announced gross of 72.6 billion Russian rubles ($902 million).

As he reported Reuters, the request to preinstall the Max app on all "gadgets", including mobile phones and tablets, sold in Russia, enters into force on 1 September. On the same day, the Russian app store, RuStore, will besides be preinstalled on all Apple devices. It is already preinstalled on Android systems.

In an effort to gain more control of the national net and the communicative of the war on Ukraine, Russia does not halt on phones. It besides executes the installation of Lime HD TV, an application for viewing state-controlled channels, on all Smart TVs from January 1st next year.