Vulnerabilities and exploits and hacking corporate networks made up only a small fraction of all messages, the study said. Telegram communications were saturated with talk about malware distribution, vulnerabilities, and exploits, stolen personal user data, corporate hacking, criminal services like cash-out and DDoS, and spam ( phishing scams) propagated through SMS, email, and messaging apps.ĥ2 percent of messages accounted for stolen user data, followed by cybercrime services and malware. Malware, Exploits, User Data, Criminal Services “Messaging apps are easy to use, provide a fair degree of anonymity and have a simple registration process, making them a viable medium for cybercriminals to expand their market and reach new customers,” the study said.Ĭybercriminal communications on Telegram suggested that 73% of channels and groups have existed for less than two years, indicating both a short lifespan and the recent transition to the messaging service.
The activity started “leading cybercriminals and their customers to fear their identity and location could be revealed and their connections to illegal websites exposed.” Sprawling dark web realms like RaidForums and DarkMarket were battered by law enforcement in 2022, while other forums, like Carding Mafia, BHF, Nulled, and Maza were hacked by competitors. The hacking of several major forums in 2021 also played a part which naturally “damaged the credibility of the forums and caused the transition to Telegram.” This migration coincided with vulnerabilities in dark web forum engines like vBulletin, XenForo, and IPB. Cybercrime Communications and Services Move to TelegramĬybercriminals moving to Telegram from dark web marketplaces was most notable in 20, the study by Positive Technologies said last Friday. Researchers sifted through more than 120,000 messages, posts, and communications that indicated criminals actively discussed malicious software, stolen user data, and various cybercrime services in Russian and English. Pushed by law enforcement crackdowns, customers’ loss of trust, and competitors hacking each other, criminal outfits are increasingly advertising, communicating, and distributing their content on Telegram, according to a study from cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies.īetween early 2019 through early 2022, researchers analyzed 323 public Telegram channels and groups, totaling around 1 million subscribers - both cybercrime-oriented circles as well as “legitimate IT communities that can potentially be abused by cybercriminals.” Popular criminal marketplaces on the dark web have seen far less activity or have been disappearing altogether since 2019, and hackers and cybercriminals are shifting to an anonymous messaging app that anyone can download from Google Play or the Apple App Store.
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