Tag Archive for: Telegram

WhatsApp Spy Mod Malware Attacked Telegram Users Over 340K Times In Oct – BW Businessworld

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A malware named “WhatsApp spy mod” has attacked Telegram users more than 3.4 lakh times in October alone. This malware mainly targeted users who communicate in Arabic and Azeri, according to the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

The malware enters the devices through third-party WhatsApp mod application, which are generally used for additional features such as scheduled messages and customisable options.

As per the report, such mod applications also contain a malicious spyware module that can compromise users personal data. When installed, such mod WhatsApp application allow the malware to run in the background and gather sensitive information from the infected device, including its IMEI number, phone number, country and network codes and more.

The malware can transfer data every five minutes. It can even record audio from the a device’s microphone and steal data from external storage. 

The highest attacks were recorded in Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Turkey and Egypt, although the malware also affected users from other countries, including the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany.

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Telegram App Scams & The Steps To Protect Against Them

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Telegram App Scams & The Steps To Protect Against Them

Billing itself as a fast and modern cloud-based messaging app, Telegram is a major competitor to Signal and WhatsApp, with more than 700 million active users. Privacy represents Telegram’s biggest draw. Users have the option of protecting their chats with end-to-end encryption and even setting messages to self-destruct.

Unfortunately, these privacy features add a layer of obfuscation to criminal transactions and activity, making both digital forensics and threat intelligence notoriously difficult; a recent study found Telegram is the preferred communication tool of cybercriminals for precisely this reason.

Moreover, Telegram’s encryption does little to address the security, regulatory, and liability risks your business could face if employees use the platform in violation of company policy. If you’re unprepared, you won’t even know your people are using Telegram in the first place. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that it is possible to mitigate Telegram’s risks — provided you understand those risks.

The Five Most Significant Business Problems Posed by Telegram

1. Safety-Free Digital Collaboration

Telegram makes it easy for your users to collaborate both internally and with third parties. It fully supports most communication methods with few restrictions, including phone calls, video and audio sharing, and text chat. Telegram chats that happen behind your security team’s back also happen without oversight or protection.

This means no data leak prevention, no malware scans, and no access control. Remember also that Telegram’s Secret Chat feature must be enabled. Users could well share confidential data without end-to-end encryption, putting it at risk of falling into the hands of unauthorized and unscrupulous third parties.

2. Anonymity for All

As befits an app that sells itself on privacy, Telegram requires next to no personally identifiable information from its users. Creating an account requires only a phone number, and users can connect and chat with one another by username alone. One need not even use their real first and last name during the on-boarding process.

With that said, Telegram does request certain permissions that give it access to personal…

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NCC urges adoption of two-factor authentication to protect telegram accounts against attack – The Sun Nigeria

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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja

The Nigerian Communications Commission’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) has advised users to adopt two-factor authentication to protect their Telegram accounts and to avoid downloading unauthorized Advanced IP Scanner Software.

This, the  NCC says is in response to the discovery of a new attack that compromises victims’ VPN (Virtual Private Network) accounts to compromise messaging app, Telegram.

According to a statement from the Commission, Ukrainian cyber experts discovered the attack, which uses Vidar Malware (Vidar Stealer) to steal Telegram session data, which in the absence of configured two-factor authentication and a passcode, allows unauthorized access to the victim’s telegram account and corporate account or network.

“The malware, which exploits unauthorized access to users’ Telegram accounts and corporate accounts to steal data, targets platforms across iOS, Android, Linux, Mac and Windows Operating Systems.

“The Ukrainian CERT alleged that a Somnia Ransomware was created to be used on Telegram that tricks users to download an installer that mimics ‘Advanced IP Scanner’ software, which contains Vidar Malware. The installer infects the system with the Vidar stealer, which steals the victim’s Telegram session data to take control of their account.

“The threat actors abuse the victim’s Telegram account in some unspecified manner to steal VPN connection data (authentication and certificates). If the VPN account is not protected by two-factor authentication passcode, the hackers use it to gain unauthorized access to the victim’s employer’s corporate network”, the alert and advisory states.

“Once inside, the intruders conduct reconnaissance work using tools like Netscan, Rclone, Anydesk, and Ngrok, to perform various surveillance and remote access activities, and then deploy a Cobalt Strike beacon, exfiltrating data using the Rclone program,” the report stated.

“The CSIRT is the telecom sector’s cyber security incidence centre set up by the NCC to focus on incidents in the telecom sector and as they may affect telecom consumers and citizens at large. The CSIRT also works collaboratively with…

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Telegram founder says WhatsApp is a surveillance tool and users should stop using it  

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WhatsApp recently revealed “critical” rated security vulnerability affecting its Android app. Telegram founder Pavel Durov takes a dig at WhatsApp and asks users to stay away from the app.  

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Telegram founder Pavel Durov warns people about WhatsApp security threats. 
  • Telegram’s founder claims that WhatsApp will never be secure for users.  
  • WhatsApp has fixed the ‘critical’ security bug that puts Android phones at risk.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov called WhatsApp a “surveillance tool” and urged users to stay away from the Meta-owned instant messaging app. Highlighting the security issue disclosed by WhatsApp last month, Durov said that WhatsApp has been putting user data at risk. He urged people to use any other instant messaging app except WhatsApp.

“Hackers could have full access to everything on the phones of WhatsApp users,” he said in his Telegram message. He also claimed that WhatsApp has been keeping the users’ data under surveillance for the past 13 years. And that the security issues found on WhatsApp are actually intentionally planted. He also said that the “planted backdoors” enable governments, law enforcement, and hackers to get around encryption and other security measures.

Durov further said that “Every year we learn about some issue in WhatsApp that puts everything on their users’ devices at risk… It doesn’t matter if you are the richest person on Earth – if you have WhatsApp installed on your phone, all your data from every app on your device is accessible.”

This is not the first time that Telegram founder has dragged WhatsApp for being prone to security issues. Earlier, Durov said that “WhatsApp will never be secure” unless the company makes some fundamental changes to it. But till then he advised people to stay away from the app to save their smartphones from being hacked.

Explaining the security and privacy features provided by Telegram, Durov said, “I’m not pushing people to switch to Telegram here… Telegram doesn’t need additional promotion.” He also said that Telegram follows the privacy-first approach to its instant messaging app. The app currently has more than 700 million active users and is reportedly recording steady growth with around 2…

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