Hackers accessed Telegram messaging accounts in Iran, say researchers

Attacks have breached end-to-end encryption by intercepting SMS messages and identified phone numbers of 15 million Iranian users of the service

Iranian hackers have compromised more than a dozen accounts on the Telegram instant messaging service and identified the phone numbers of 15 million Iranian users, the largest known breach of the encrypted communications system, cyber researchers told Reuters.

The attacks, which took place this year and have not been previously reported, jeopardized the communications of activists, journalists and other people in sensitive positions in Iran, where Telegram is used by some 20 million people, said the independent cyber researcher Collin Anderson and the Amnesty International technologist Claudio Guarnieri, who have been studying Iranian hacking groups for three years.