Telegram launches Passport to securely store identities to access digital services

Newsroom 30/07/2018 | 13:55

The Telegram Communication Service launches a feature that will allow users to store securely and use real identity documents to access digital services.

Certain digital services, such as ebanking or online betting, require the user to prove their identity by providing a copy of an identity card and to do that, the user is usually required to call the camera to take a picture of the identity card and then manually upload it to the site or service application.

Telegram, one of the alternative to WhatsApp, will securely store, through Telegram Passport, on its own servers copies of user IDs, documents that can be automatically used to authenticate to services that require identity verification in this way.

As Facebook or Google can be used to log in to other sites, Telegram Passport facilitates authentication using real-time identity documents with a single click. Users will be able to use the new service for any ID card, passport or driving license.

The Telegram officials say the Passport service benefits from a double security system. First, the user can encrypt files based on a password to prevent unauthorized access. On the other hand, the transfer between the Telegram servers and the services that request the identity card is encrypted both when sending and receiving data.