Telegram says it cannot monitor all chatbots in the Star Health India data breach
Messaging platform Telegram told an Indian court on Friday that it cannot monitor all accounts it hosts for leaked customer data from India’s Star Health, and will only block problematic content flagged on it.
India’s largest health insurer has been facing a reputational and business crisis since Reuters reported on September 20 that a hacker had used Telegram chatbots and a website to leak sensitive customer data, including biometric ID cards and medical claim papers.
Last month, Star Health approached the Madras High Court seeking its intervention to direct Telegram to remove all bots related to the data breach.
But a lawyer representing Telegram said at Friday’s hearing that it would violate Indian laws if it monitored all chatbots on the platform to identify leaked data.
However, Telegram agreed to delete the data if it received help from the insurer, which received a $68,000 ransom from a hacker to stop the leaks.
Shares of Star Health have fallen nearly 11% since the story was published, and were down just over 1% on Friday.
Telegram has come under increasing scrutiny worldwide since its founder Pavel Durov was formally investigated in France on August 28 over alleged use of the app for illegal activities.
Durov and Telegram have denied any wrongdoing and said they are addressing the criticism.
Justice Kumaresh Babu of the Madras High Court on Friday asked the insurer to share information about problematic chatbots with Telegram and directed the social media app to block them immediately.
Telegram and Star Health did not respond to requests for comment about the hearing.
Star Health is also investigating allegations that its chief security officer was involved in the data breach, and has said he is cooperating with the investigation, which has so far found no evidence of wrongdoing by him.
The board has not yet responded to the allegations.
The case will resume in two weeks.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
