Security News
The StrongPity APT hacking group is distributing a fake Shagle chat app that is a trojanized version of the Telegram for Android app with an added backdoor. Once installed, this app enables the hackers to conduct espionage on the targeted victims, including monitoring phone calls, collecting SMS texts, and grabbing contact lists.
Microsoft says that cryptocurrency investment companies have been targeted by a threat group it tracks as DEV-0139 via Telegram groups used to communicate with the firms' VIP customers. "Microsoft recently investigated an attack where the threat actor, tracked as DEV-0139, took advantage of Telegram chat groups to target cryptocurrency investment companies," the company's Security Threat Intelligence team revealed.
A ruling handed down from the Delhi High Court this week declared that Telegram must hand over information such as IP addresses, mobile numbers, and devices used by channels on the platform involved in copyright infringement. On behalf of Telegram, the platform's senior counsel, Amit Sibal, said that the arrangement already in place directing Telegram to take down the infringing channels was "Sufficient to protect the interest of the plaintiffs."
Telegram is one of the best cross-platform messaging apps and it is regularly updated with new features. The privacy-focused social media platform is now working on a new subscription-based project dubbed "Telegram Premium".
Telegram's anonymous blogging platform, Telegraph, is being actively exploited by phishing actors who take advantage of the platform's lax policies to set up interim landing pages that lead to the theft of account credentials. Telegraph is a blogging platform that lets anyone publish anything without creating an account or providing any identification details.
Miscreants have dumped on Telegram more than 142 million customer records stolen from MGM Resorts, exposing names, postal and email addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth for any would-be identity thief.The vpnMentor research team stumbled upon the files, which totaled 8.7 GB of data, on the messaging platform earlier this week, and noted that they "Assume at least 30 million people had some of their data leaked." MGM Resorts, a hotel and casino chain, did not respond to The Register's request for comment.
An unidentified threat actor has been linked to an actively in-development malware toolkit called the "Eternity Project" that lets professional and amateur cybercriminals buy stealers, clippers, worms, miners, ransomware, and a distributed denial-of-service bot. What makes this malware-as-a-service stand out is that besides using a Telegram channel to communicate updates about the latest features, it also employs a Telegram Bot that enables the purchasers to build the binary.
The new malware service, dubbed the Eternity Project by the threat actors behind it, allows cybercriminals to target potential victims with a customized threat offering based on individual modules they can buy for prices ranging from $90 to $490, researchers from security firm Cyble wrote in a blog post published Thursday. The modules include a stealer, clipper, worm, miner and ransomware, depending on what type of attack a threat actors wants to mount, according to the post.
Ukraine's technical security and intelligence service is warning of a new wave of cyber attacks that are aimed at gaining access to users' Telegram accounts. "The criminals sent messages with malicious links to the Telegram website in order to gain unauthorized access to the records, including the possibility to transfer a one-time code from SMS," the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine said in an alert.
Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes banned Telegram on Friday from operating in the country and asked the National Telecommunications Agency to notify internet providers to block the messaging app within five days. Although Telegram complied with some court orders to block accounts used to spread disinformation on its platform, the messaging platform failed to comply with points of the Court's decision, including providing registration information for the blocked accounts to Justice.