A second senior Australian government minister has revealed that his mobile phone was hacked through the Telegram messaging app, with a media report saying that the phishing scam aimed to uncover contact details of pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong.
Australian Minister for Health Greg Hunt’s office said in an e-mailed statement yesterday that “a cybersecurity attempt to impersonate the minister has been referred to the Australian Federal Police [AFP] and investigations are underway.”
That follows Monday’s statement by Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham that he had been targeted.
The Australian late on Wednesday reported that the details of pro-democracy Hong Kongers were provided to someone impersonating Birmingham, with one of the recipients being asked: “Do you have any contacts in Hong Kong?”
The person handed over details of Hong Kongers without realizing that they were speaking to a hacker, the paper said, citing a person that it did not identify.
Birmingham told a parliamentary hearing yesterday that the hacker had gained access to his government phone and contacts who had the Telegram app.
The person pretending to be the minister also sent a request asking for money to be transferred to a bank account outside Australia, he said.
“The AFP are seeking to, through their data security processes, attempting to ascertain how any data was secured and are working to try to get Telegram to shut down the false account,” Birmingham said, as shown by a transcript sent from his office.
The phishing campaign, which was first reported to authorities on Thursday last week, originated with WhatsApp, the AFP said in an advisory circulated among government employees yesterday.
The warning said that the scam “presents as a request from a trusted colleague. Victims have been targeted through WhatsApp and asked to download Telegram for ‘further communication.’”
The WhatsApp message also asked recipients to forward two-factor authentication codes to the sender following the Telegram install — a breach that should have raised flags with recipients.
The Australian Signals Directorate has declined to comment on the scam.
Telegram has not replied to a message requesting comment sent on Sunday via its Web site or one sent through its app yesterday.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office on Monday said that it does not comment on police matters, while requests seeking comment from other senior ministers on whether they were targeted have not been answered.
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