Telegram is turning into a hub for cyber criminals to conduct their nefarious business, owing to the company's signature encryption.
There is definitely some form of irony present in the application's main selling feature also being responsible for a major flaw. Then again, some people would argue this to be a result of some form of karmic equivalent exchange. Either way, sucks for Telegram, considering the newfound success the social media message sharing platform has seen in recent years.
Much of this success can be traced back to WhatsApp's infamous policy change that it tried to enforce onto users back in early 2021. The potential harm that such a change could inflict on to user date, combined with parent company Facebook's less than stellar track record, led to many users abandoning the platform as a whole. Where did all of these individuals go to, then? Fellow competing apps Signal and, of course, Telegram.
A major reason that Signal and Telegram joined the party is because of their record for maintaining user security and privacy. With encryption on par or better than WhatsApp's, combined with absolutely no storage of messages, the platforms made their way towards a steady increase in both users and business. However, of such migrating users, came a batch of less savory individuals. Hackers, phishing accounts, and the like suddenly had a new, secure platform to enact their business through.
The news of rising cyber criminals on the platform was brought to light via cybersecurity firm Cyberint and FT. Data dumps reveal a four times increase in words such as "Email:pass" and "Combo" being used. Much more than would be considered normal, and thus, worrying news. Then again, as users with a morbid sense of humor may point out, the harboring of cyber criminals means that Telegram's security systems are going a bang up job of maintaining user privacy.
After being informed of the channels using the above mentioned keywords, Telegram decided to remove them in an attempt to curb the security threat they posed. However, this is perhaps only the beginning. Before the WhatsApp fiasco, Telegram enjoyed a niche audience in the market. Now, as it steps up to the more mainstream, the platform needs to be more careful about regulations and the like.
Read next: According to data these websites experience the most outages
There is definitely some form of irony present in the application's main selling feature also being responsible for a major flaw. Then again, some people would argue this to be a result of some form of karmic equivalent exchange. Either way, sucks for Telegram, considering the newfound success the social media message sharing platform has seen in recent years.
Much of this success can be traced back to WhatsApp's infamous policy change that it tried to enforce onto users back in early 2021. The potential harm that such a change could inflict on to user date, combined with parent company Facebook's less than stellar track record, led to many users abandoning the platform as a whole. Where did all of these individuals go to, then? Fellow competing apps Signal and, of course, Telegram.
A major reason that Signal and Telegram joined the party is because of their record for maintaining user security and privacy. With encryption on par or better than WhatsApp's, combined with absolutely no storage of messages, the platforms made their way towards a steady increase in both users and business. However, of such migrating users, came a batch of less savory individuals. Hackers, phishing accounts, and the like suddenly had a new, secure platform to enact their business through.
The news of rising cyber criminals on the platform was brought to light via cybersecurity firm Cyberint and FT. Data dumps reveal a four times increase in words such as "Email:pass" and "Combo" being used. Much more than would be considered normal, and thus, worrying news. Then again, as users with a morbid sense of humor may point out, the harboring of cyber criminals means that Telegram's security systems are going a bang up job of maintaining user privacy.
After being informed of the channels using the above mentioned keywords, Telegram decided to remove them in an attempt to curb the security threat they posed. However, this is perhaps only the beginning. Before the WhatsApp fiasco, Telegram enjoyed a niche audience in the market. Now, as it steps up to the more mainstream, the platform needs to be more careful about regulations and the like.
Read next: According to data these websites experience the most outages
