Communications of the ACM
Telegram Feature Exposes Your Precise Address to Hackers
The Telegram messenger app makes it easy for hackers to find your precise location, when you enable a feature that allows users who are geographically close to you to connect.
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Hackers can exploit the Telegram messenger application employed in Android devices and iPhones to pinpoint users' precise location when they enable the People Nearby feature, which allows users in close geographical proximity to connect.
In activating the feature, users' geographic distance is displayed to others who have the app active and are in the same region.
Independent researcher Ahmed Hassan utilized readily available software and a rooted Android device to spoof the location his device disclosed to Telegram servers, and located a user by employing just three different locations and measuring the corresponding distance reported by People Nearby.
The app poses the greatest threat to people using Android devices, since it reports a user's location in sufficient detail to make the exploit practical.
Hassan privately reported the attack method to Telegram, but said the firm has no plans to correct the bug.
From Ars Technica
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