Indian insurer Star Health is suing Telegram after a hacker uses the app’s chatbots to leak data

Major Indian insurer Star Health has sued Telegram and a self-styled hacker after Reuters reported that the hacker was using chatbots in the messaging app to leak policyholders’ personal data and medical reports.

Star received a temporary injunction from a court in its home state of Tamil Nadu ordering Telegram to block any chatbots or websites in India “that make the data available online,” the insurer said in a public announcement published in The Hindu newspaper.

The star in the announcement described the incident as “unlawful hacking and unauthorized access to confidential, sensitive information.”

Telegram did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Reuters reported last week that an individual named xenZen had made public stolen data, including medical reports of Star customers, on Telegram, just weeks after Telegram’s founder was accused of enabling the app to facilitate crime.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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