Stolen customer data, including medical reports from India’s largest health insurance company, Star Health, has been made publicly available via chatbots on Telegram, just weeks after the founder of Telegram was accused of allowing the messaging app to facilitate crimes.
The hacker believed to be behind the chatbots told a security researcher that the personal details of millions of people are for sale, and samples can be viewed by requesting the chatbots to reveal them.
Star Health & Allied Insurance Co., with a market value exceeding $4 billion, stated that it had informed local authorities about unauthorized access to data. The company said that the initial assessment showed “no widespread breach” and that “sensitive customer data remains secure.”
Using the chatbots, Reuters was able to download documents of insurance policies and claims containing names, phone numbers, addresses, tax details, and copies of identity cards, as well as test results and medical examinations.
The ability for users to create chatbots on a large scale has helped Telegram become one of the world’s largest messaging applications, with 900 million active users monthly.
In a test of the chatbots, Reuters was able to download more than 1,500 files, with some documents dating back to July 2024.
