Telegram phishing campaign targeted exiled Belarusian activist, Russians and Kazakhstanis
Researchers have uncovered a highly personalized phishing campaign that used Telegram to try to hijack the account of an exiled Belarusian activist, as well as users in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Researchers have uncovered a highly personalized phishing campaign that used Telegram to try to hijack the account of an exiled Belarusian activist, as well as users in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Two reports released last week by digital security organization Resident NGO document how the operation targeted at least one Belarusian activist living in Lithuania and appears to be part of a broader Telegram phishing campaign against users in Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan since at least October 2024.
The attack began with a fake Telegram security alert sent through the app's end-to-end encrypted secret chat feature from an unfamiliar account registered to a Kazakhstani phone number. The message falsely claimed the victim had violated Telegram's rules and warned their account would be blocked unless they clicked a link to verify it.
Source: https://therecord.media/telegram-belarus-activist-russia-cyberattack
Related breach coverage
- Claude Code and DeepSeek Powered Chinese Cyber Espionage Campaign2026-07-16
Chinese actors used Claude Code and DeepSeek to automate attacks that breached government systems and targeted financial firms. Hunt.io researchers stumbled onto an active intrusion campaign in June 2026 while pivoting on known TencShell command-and-control infrastructure. A single HTTP header fingerprint on port 1111 led them to 13 Hong Kong-based servers and, on one of […]
- Russia accuses Telegram founder of aiding terrorism, seeks international arrest2026-07-29
Russia is seeking to place Telegram founder Pavel Durov on an international wanted list, alleging that the app has been used by Ukrainian intelligence to organize terrorist attacks and conduct espionage inside Russia.
- Hackers used autonomous AI agent to spy on Thailand's finance ministry2026-07-27
Hackers used an autonomous artificial intelligence agent to carry out a cyber-espionage campaign against Thailand's Ministry of Finance, researchers discovered.
- Hackers Hijack Hotel Wi-Fi to Steal Microsoft 365 Credentials2026-07-26
Hackers compromised hotel Wi-Fi gateways to redirect users to fake Microsoft 365 login pages and steal credentials. ReliaQuest’s threat research team just documented attackers compromising the Wi-Fi gateways at hotels and conference centers, then quietly rerouting guests toward fake Microsoft login pages. No phishing email required. No malicious attachment. Just bad luck about which hotel […]