Russia has developed a neural network, called “Comrade Major,” capable of identifying the owners of anonymous Telegram channels. She knows how to explore communities in the messenger and identify administrators and public owners. Artificial intelligence acts in the same way as any analyst: it checks the channel description, information in messages and built-in chats, but it does it faster and with better quality. Experts believe that such a tool will be useful for government or private organizations involved in investigating cybercrimes.
Find Telegram community owners
In the Russian Federation, they have learned to de-anonymize Telegram channels - now the specially created neural network “Comrade Major” is undergoing internal testing at the development company T.Hunter. Izvestia was told about this by the press service of the National Technology Initiative (NTI).
“A basic anthology of methods and techniques was developed that a specialist uses when researching a Telegram channel, and then these techniques were taught to the program,” Igor Bederov, NTI SafeNet market expert and head of the information and analytical research department at T.Hunter, told Izvestia.
This process includes collecting information about administrators from the channel description, its archived copies, posts, as well as obtaining metadata of published files. The program can find the necessary information in message captions, built-in chat, sticker packs, documents and videos uploaded to the community. The AI acts as an expert would: it analyzes data leaks, matches them with the user’s name or photo, but does it faster and better than a human, the developers noted.
The analyzed content may contain information about mobile phones linked to the user’s profile, address and other digital traces that the AI bot shows upon request, the specialist explained. In addition, the neural network analyzes other identifiers and also receives data from communities on social networks, blogs and websites, the development company said.
— AI is based on one of the most common text neural networks, which runs on our company’s servers. A Telegram bot has been written for its use, which simplifies interaction with the software,” emphasized Igor Bederov.
The second function of AI is checking legal entities using TIN. In particular, it provides general information about the company: period of existence, number of employees, authorized capital, registered address, etc. There are plans to teach the neural network to explore other objects, such as social network accounts, phone numbers, email addresses and cryptocurrency wallets, the authors of the project reported.
The full version of the program is planned to be released in 2024–2025. It is intended for public or private organizations that are investigating cybercrimes related to anonymous Telegram communities, the developers explained. For example, it can be used to prevent the spread of fakes in the messenger and identify their authors.
Will the software be in demand?
The neural network created by the Russian IT company will be useful for specialists in the field of cybersecurity and law enforcement, says Konstantin Gusev, senior data analyst at EdgeCenter.
— Artificial intelligence is capable of processing huge amounts of data in a short time. This allows us to significantly speed up the process of investigation and identification of those responsible,” the specialist explained.
In addition, the neural network analyzes information more objectively than a person. She is not subject to fatigue, stress or emotional influence, which will increase the accuracy and reliability of the data obtained, noted Konstantin Gusev.
AI will likely make the job easier for people who want to expose the owners of such communities. However, in the near future, the neural network is unlikely to cope with the task on its own, says Kristina Petrova, founder of the PR Perfect communications agency.
— The authors of anonymous Telegram channels know how to hide their digital traces - they have everything they need for this. Many of them are located outside of Russia or use VPN, hide or replace their IP address, and the accounts themselves can be registered to foreign phone numbers,” noted Ksenia Alekseeva, managing partner of the communications agency Fresh Russian Communications.
For example, one channel can be run by several people located in different parts of the world. News gathering is often carried out using bots, which are sent information from many different users. AI is unlikely to be able to figure it all out, the communications specialist emphasized.
Is this software legal?
The use of this technology requires strict control and regulation so as not to violate privacy rights and not to abuse personal data, said Konstantin Gusev.
— Artificial intelligence in this case acts only as a tool for collecting and analyzing information about specific individuals and legal entities. From a legal point of view, there are no specifics related to its use,” noted Efim Kazantsev, teacher of the educational platform Moscow Digital School.
For neural networks, the same legal norms apply that apply to the collection and analysis of information without the use of AI. In particular, in the process of such activities, the constitutional rights of citizens, legislation on personal data and information protection should not be violated, the lawyer said.
“If a person who collects information violates any of the above norms, legal consequences will occur regardless of what technologies were used - with or without the use of AI,” emphasized Efim Kazantsev.
With proper legal use of a neural network, the information obtained can become the basis for blocking a channel or other additional sanctions against its owner or author, says Yaroslav Fedoseev, director of the center for strategic support of domestic technologies.
