On Reddit, several users shared stories of harassment

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Phone numbers linked to Telegram accounts were publicly exposed in some databases. This allowed malicious actors to correlate usernames with real-world identities, a serious risk for privacy-conscious users. Users’ last seen status, online presence, and device information could also be harvested, enabling persistent tracking. Contact lists from some accounts were accessible, revealing social graphs and relationships. Since Telegram is popular in sensitive regions like Iran, Russia, and Belarus, where governments heavily monitor communications, the exposure of metadata was seen as a potential tool for oppression.

Doxxing resulting from the breach, emphasizing that even without message content exposure, the breach’s consequences were tangible and dangerous. Telegram’s Response and the Reddit canada telegram data Community’s Critique Telegram’s official response, which came weeks after the breach was first reported, was met with mixed reactions on Reddit. The company acknowledged the vulnerability, confirming the session management flaw and emphasizing that message contents were safe. They rolled out patches to fix the token rotation issues and urged users to enable two-step verification and review active sessions. However, many Redditors criticized Telegram for what they perceived as a delayed and somewhat opaque response.

Some accused Telegram of underplaying the breach’s severity, especially given the sensitive nature of the leaked metadata. Reddit users called for more transparency, third-party security audits, and open-source verification of Telegram’s encryption and session handling mechanisms. Security experts on Reddit debated whether Telegram’s proprietary MTProto protocol could be the root cause or whether the breach was a case of poor implementation. This discussion fueled calls for Telegram to adopt more widely vetted, open encryption standards or at least publish detailed security audits. Lessons from Reddit Discussions on User Security Practices The Telegram breach sparked a surge in user-driven security awareness campaigns across Reddit.