I just read Pavel Durov's comments about the age verification app that the EU launched, and honestly, the guy has a point in being concerned.

For those who don't know, Pavel Durov is the founder of Telegram, so he knows quite a bit about security and privacy. The interesting part is that, according to him, the app was literally hacked within minutes after it was released to the public. Minutes. We're not talking about weeks or a sophisticated attack that would require months of investigation.

What caught my attention the most is the irony Durov points out: the app is promoted as "privacy-respecting," but in reality, it could become a surveillance tool. That is exactly the opposite of what it promises. If they can't even keep it secure against basic hackers, how will they ensure it isn't used for surveillance?

This opens an important debate that we've been seeing in the tech industry for some time. Every time a government or a large institution wants to implement digital identity verification systems, the same question arises: can we really trust that these systems will be secure? Pavel Durov has been quite vocal about these issues, and in this case, his concerns seem entirely valid.

Security in digital identity systems is no small matter. If it fails here, many other things will fail as well.