Durov the founder and owner of secure messaging platform Telegram has reported the app has been hit by gazillions of “Garbage requests” that stopped the app from processing legitimate requests.
According to Durov many of the Internet Protocol addresses were originating from China. The app’s official Twitter account sent out a tweet stating “We’re currently experiencing a powerful DDoS attack, Telegram users in the Americas and some users from other countries may experience connection issues.”
IP addresses coming mostly from China. Historically, all state actor-sized DDoS (200-400 Gb/s of junk) we experienced coincided in time with protests in Hong Kong (coordinated on @telegram). This case was not an exception.
— Pavel Durov (@durov) June 12, 2019
Durov raised concerns stating that it’s most likely the Beijing Backed government which took the action to counter protests ongoing in the cities of Hong Kong arguing it was not coincidental. “This case is not different” he tweeted further with no explanation.
Hong Kong has been faced by protests in its city which have been brought up by the ongoing legislation that will allow extraditions to China which locals fear will be used to do away with any opposition to the authorities.
Bloomberg has reported that the two most secure apps Telegram and Firebase have seen an increase in downloads and the two are even trending in the country’s Playstore. Protestors have been reported to be using Telegram and Firebase to communicate and organise the demos which the Hong Kong government is fighting by initiating attacks on Telegram servers to cut the communication.
However everything had cooled down by 3PM yesterday when app’s Twitter page tweeted that things have stabilized and assured its users that their data is safe.
For the moment, things seem to have stabilized.
— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) June 12, 2019
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