Chatbots on Telegram have been found to have access to customer data, including medical records from Star Health and Allied Insurance, the largest health insurer in India, according to a report. The hack, which became public a few weeks after Telegram was accused of aiding illegal activity, exposes millions of people’s personal data.
A security researcher said that an alleged chatbot developer claimed to have millions of people’s private information for sale, with sample data accessible via the chatbots upon request. With a market valuation of more than $4 billion, Star Health (STAU.NS) acknowledged the purported unlawful data access in a statement and said it had notified local authorities of the situation. The company added that an initial assessment indicated “no widespread compromise” and that “sensitive customer data remains secure.”
Policy and claims records, including names, phone numbers, residences, tax information, copies of IDs, test results, and medical diagnoses, were available via the chatbots. With 900 million active monthly users, Telegram is a well-known messaging service with its headquarters in Dubai. However, with Pavel Durov, the founder of the company, being arrested in France recently, there has been concern about possible platform abuse.
According to reports, Durov and Telegram are attempting to resolve the concerns brought up and have denied any misconduct.
The Telegram chatbots, which have allegedly been operational since August 6 at least, have a greeting that is credited to “xenZen.” Jason Parker, a security researcher from the UK, discovered the chatbots on a hacker forum while pretending to be a possible buyer. Under the pseudonym “xenZen,” the user asserted that they were in charge of 7.24 gigabytes of data connected to more than 31 million Star Health clients.
The majority of the stolen data is for sale, even though the chatbot offers random data without charge.
The source of the data or conducting an independent investigation into the assertions made by xenZen was not possible. xenZen stated they were in talks with possible buyers.
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