INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Parker said he posed as a potential buyer on a online hacker forum where a user under the alias xenZen said they made the chatbots and
possessed 7.24 terabytes of data related to over 31 million Star Health customers.5 min read Last Updated : Sep 20 2024 | 10:39 AM
IST
Stolen customer data including medical reports from India's biggest health insurer, Star Health, is publicly accessible via chatbots
on Telegram, just weeks after Telegram's founder was accused of allowing the messenger app to facilitate crime.
The purported creator of
the chatbots told a security researcher, who alerted Reuters to the issue, that private details of millions of people were for sale and that
billion, in a statement to Reuters said it has reported alleged unauthorized data access to local authorities
Reuters was able to download policy and claims documents featuring names, phone numbers, addresses, tax details, copies of ID cards, test
France last month has increased scrutiny of Telegram's content moderation and features open to abuse for criminal ends
difficulty the app has in preventing nefarious agents taking advantage of its technology and highlights the challenges Indian companies face
the alias xenZen said they made the chatbots and possessed 7.24 terabytes of data related to over 31 million Star Health customers
xenZen's claims nor ascertain how the chatbot creator obtained the data
"SCAM" with a stock warning that users had reported them as suspect
Reuters shared details of the chatbots with Telegram on Sept
of private information on Telegram is expressly forbidden and is removed whenever it is found
Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring, AI tools and user reports to remove millions of pieces of harmful content each day."
to have access to some of its data
The insurer reported the matter to the cybercrime department of its home state of Tamil Nadu and federal cyber security agency
address this criminal activity
14 stock exchange filing, Star Health, India's biggest player among standalone health insurance providers, said it was investigating an
requests for comment.Unaware
Telegram allows individuals or organizations to store and share large amounts of data behind anonymous
distribute Star Health data
One offers claim documents in PDF format
The other allows users to request up to 20 samples from 31.2 million datasets with a single click giving details including policy number,
name and even body mass index.
Among documents disclosed to Reuters were records related to the treatment of the one-year-old daughter of
policyholder Sandeep TS at a hospital in the southern state of Kerala
Do you know how this can affect me?" said Sandeep, confirming the documents' authenticity
Malhotra which included ultrasound imaging test results, details of illness and copies of federal tax account and national ID cards
a broader trend of hackers using such methods to sell stolen data
Of five million people whose data was sold via chatbots, India represented the largest number of victims at 12%, showed the latest survey on
Telegram is an easy-to-use storefront," said NordVPN cybersecurity expert Adrianus Warmenhoven
reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)First Published: Sep 20 2024 |
