KUALA LUMPUR - Cybercriminal activities on Telegram surged by 53 per cent in May to June 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to Kaspersky’s Digital Footprint Intelligence data.
"Cybercriminals actively operate channels and groups on Telegram dedicated to discussing fraud schemes, distributing leaked databases, and trading various criminal services, such as cashing out, forging documents, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks as a service and more,” Kaspersky said in a statement today.
Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence analyst Alexey Bannikov said the growing interest in Telegram from the cybercriminal community is mainly due to the messenger being very popular in general where its audience has reached 900 million monthly users.
"Secondly, it is marketed as the most secure and independent messenger that does not collect any user data, giving threat actors a sense of security and impunity.
"Moreover, finding or creating a community on Telegram is relatively easy, which, combined with other factors, allows various channels, including cybercriminal ones, to gather an audience quickly,” he said in the same statement.
Bannikov noted that "there is another trend, in which Telegram has emerged as a platform where various hacktivists make statements and express their views.”
"Due to its extensive user base and rapid content distribution through Telegram channels, hacktivists find the platform a convenient tool to incite DDoS attacks and other disruptive methods against targeted infrastructures.
"Additionally, they can release stolen data from attacked organisations into the public domain using shadow channels,” he added. - BERNAMA