Men buy hacking tools to use against their wives and friends

Thousands of men are members of Telegram groups and channels that advertise and sell hacking and surveillance services that can be used to harass boyfriends, girlfriends and ex-partners, new research has uncovered. The findings, from a European non-profit group, also say that the communities are involved in extensive trade, sale and promotion of a wide range of offensive content, including non-consensual intimate images of women, so-called nudifying servicesplus folders of images that sellers claim include child sexual abuse material and depictions of gore and rape.

More than six weeks earlier this year, researchers at the algorithmic audit group AI Forensics analyzed nearly 2.8 million messages sent across 16 Italian and Spanish Telegram communities that regularly post offensive content targeting women and girls. Over the course of the study, more than 24,000 members of Telegram groups and channels participated in posting 82,723 images, videos and audio files, the analysis said. Many posts target celebrities and influencers, but men in the groups also frequently victimize women they know.

“We tend to forget that most victims are ordinary women who sometimes don’t even know that their photos are being shared or manipulated in these types of channels,” says Silvia Semenzin, a researcher at AI Forensics who previously exposed Italian Telegram channels that engage in similar behavior. as far back as 2019. “The majority of this violence is directed at people who know the perpetrators,” she said, pointing out that Telegram, which has more than 1 billion monthly active users, according to to company founder Pavel Durov, should be subject to stricter regulation and classified as a “very large online platform” under Europe’s online safety rules.

The findings like Durov are fight back against Russia’s efforts to block the messaging app in that country, which has long positioned itself as a messaging app that allows free speech but at the same time be used by sharing some terrorist, sexual abuseand material for cybercrime. Durov is under criminal investigation in France related to alleged criminal activity taking place on Telegram, although he has consistently denied the allegations.

A Telegram spokesperson tells WIRED that the company removes “millions” of pieces of content per day using “custom AI tools” and has policy in Europe which does not allow the promotion of violence, illegal sexual content including non-consensual images, and other content such as doxing and the sale of illegal goods and services.

Among the extensive types of abusive content and services observed by the AI ​​forensic researchers were frequent references to accessing, publishing and doxing women’s private information, sharing their Instagram or TikTok content, as well as references to espionage or hacking. “Victims are often named, tagged and traceable via shared profile links,” the group’s report said.

One translated post on Telegram titled “Professional Hacking on Commission” claimed it could give customers “access to phone gallery and extraction of photos and videos,” as well as “anonymous hacking on social media.” Another message says: “I hack and repair any type of social media service. I can spy on your partner’s account. Send me a private message.”

Across the data set, there were more than 18,000 references to espionage or espionage content. One post reads: “Hi, do you have the desire to spy on a girl’s gallery? We sell a bot that does this for info DM.” Meanwhile, users have been observed asking if people can find phone numbers linked to Instagram accounts and other requests, “who is exchanging spy photos and videos?”