Opening of an investigation after the hacking of Telegram accounts of several deputies

The Telegram accounts of several MPs were hacked, the news site revealed on Wednesday Politico. The MP (Var, National Rally) Laure Lavalette thus confirmed having been a victim of the compromise, which affects “all political groups”according to another elected official. Requested by AFP, the anti-cybercrime section of the Paris public prosecutor's office confirmed, Friday, November 22, that it had opened an investigation and referred the matter to the Anti-Cybercrime Office.

The elected representatives of the National Assembly received a warning e-mail on Wednesday from the Assembly's IT security services, alerting about “account compromises” on instant messaging. This email warned them that if they clicked on a fraudulent link and typed in their phone number, their Telegram account could be hacked and used to send “malicious content”.

Malicious content

Political journalists have received messages on Telegram from certain MPs, for example offering their recipients to see photos “from your primary school teacher”.

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram who has long refused to provide data on his users to the authorities, was indicted in Paris at the end of August for numerous offenses linked to his messaging. Since then, Telegram has modified its moderation rules in order to collaborate more with legal authorities.