PolySwarm, a crowd-sourced cyber threat detection platform, announced today that Telegram users and channel mods can now use a free tool called the Scanbot – to stay protected from malicious content.
Messaging app Telegram is used by over 200 million people around the world; and has proven to be a great communication vehicle for individuals and companies. Unfortunately, Telegram is also an attractive target for bad actors looking to exploit the platform and people. From cryptocurrency stealers and miners, Telegram has seen its fair share of scams.
ScanBot
The PolySwarm ScanBot can be added to Telegram groups where it will proactively scan and render verdicts on whether the materials being shared in the group are malicious. Once added to a group, the ScanBot will notify members when something malicious has been detected; and with admin permissions, it will delete the post. Individuals can also directly submit suspect material through a private message with the bot, and get details and warnings about the artifact.
Crowdsourced
PolySwarm’s assertion (meaning answers on whether or not the file or content is malicious) is pulled directly from PolySwarm’s platform where a crowdsourced network of antivirus companies and individual security experts’ scanning technologies work in real-time to automatically detect threats. Rather than one source, PolySwarm aggregates verdicts from over 30 sources; both established antivirus companies and niche, specialized security experts–to provide protection against potentially malicious content.
“The security team here at PolySwarm is constantly thinking of ways to make it easier for people to tap into PolySwarm’s threat detection capabilities. We built the ScanBot as an easy and automated way for our own Telegram chat group users to submit potentially malicious files; and help them feel safe and secure when in our group. It became clear that it was a really useful tool that we should make it available for everyone. Telegram is the first platform the PolySwarm ScanBot is available, but we plan on rolling it out elsewhere soon.”
– PolySwarm Co-Founder and CSO Ben Schmidt
Anyone can try the PolySwarm ScanBot by going to Telegram and searching for @PolySwarmBot. From there, it can be used individually, or added to a group.
