Cybercriminals have been using Telegram for years, because it is encrypted and easily accessible. However, according to recent research by the cyber intelligence group Cyberint, there have recently been “an increase of more than 100 percent in the use of Telegram by cybercriminals”. According to the researchers, the increase in criminal activity in the application occurred after users flocked after a change in WhatsApp’s privacy policy.
WhatsApp asked its users to agree to a revised policy that would allow them share data with its parent company Facebook earlier this year. Users were outraged and WhatsApp had to clarify that it will not yet be able to read our private communications. Still, people migrated to rivals that offered similar secure messaging capabilities. Telegram has been the main winner in this situation.
According to the researchers, there are a growing network of hackers sharing and selling data leaks on channels with tens of thousands of subscribers. The number of times “Email: pass” and “Combo” were mentioned in the app over the past year has reportedly quadrupled. Some data dumps circulating in the application contain 300,000 to 600,000 email and password combinations for gaming and email services. Cybercriminals also sell financial information such as credit card numbers, passport copies, and hacking tools through the app.