Security News > 2023 > March > Russia’s Rostec allegedly can de-anonymize Telegram users
Russia's Rostec has reportedly bought a platform that allows it to uncover the identities of anonymous Telegram users, likely to be used to tamp down on unfavorable news out of the country.
The organization, which has an active role in monitoring the circulation of information within the country, is particularly interested in the identity of Telegram channel administrators who are critical of the Russian state.
The Bell presents several cases that shook trust in Telegram's security, including the arrests of commercial director Ksenia Sobchak Kirill Sukhanov, ex-editor-in-chief of Tatler magazine Arian Romanovsky, and journalist Tamerlan Bigaev, all users of the "Put out the light" Telegram channel.
According to the same reports, Rostec's subsidiary "Avtomatika" acquired a St. Petersburg IT company named T. Hunter in 2021, which has developed a product that can be used to identify anonymous users on Telegram.
The tool is allegedly called "Okhotnik", which translates to "Hunter." It is said to use over 700 data points to make associations and correlations that can lead to unmasking otherwise anonymous Telegram users.
"The interlocutors of the authors of the investigation on the"breakthrough" market compare "Hunter" with the well-known telegram bot Chimera," reports the Bell.