Telegram went through powerful DDoS attack, allegedly related to protests in Hong Kong

Telegram’s popular messaging service once again undergone a DDoS attack in Asia.

The reason for this were protests on streets of Hong Kong – citizens were unhappy with the new law, according to which the municipality comes under more control from the Chinese government.

It is known that the protesters wanted to use Telegram as a channel for communication, protected from wiretapping and spying by the authorities. This is facilitated by the encryption of correspondence implemented in the messenger.

Information about the attack first came from representatives of Telegram through the social platform Twitter. The post was posted on Wednesday around two in the afternoon.

«We’re currently experiencing a powerful DDoS attack, Telegram users in the Americas and some users from other countries may experience connection issues», — writes Twitter-account of Telegram.

According to Telegram, attackers used a botnet to carry out attacks, so it will be difficult to determine the exact cause of the attack.

“Telegram clarified that the main trait of a botnet is that it’s formed of compromised computers located anywhere in the world. Even if they were from a specific region it does not necessarily indicate that the attacker is from that location, too. Furthermore, there are DDoS services that rent botnet power, so anyone in the world can deploy an attack against a target”, — report BleepingComputer journalists.

However, the context of the story allows making some conclusions.

In fact, this is the second such case related to the government of China. The first took place about four years ago; he was associated with the actions of the PRC against human rights defenders in the country.

According to Tweeter messages from service operators, the situation stabilized by the midnight. Users assured that their data was not affected.

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com