Possible Telegram Bot API Command and Control Channel

PremiumReviewedSigma · Low · v1
Product
windows
Category
dns_query
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-17
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

C2
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects DNS resolution of the Telegram bot API host api.telegram.org. QwixxRAT and similar stealers abuse the Telegram Bot API as a command-and-control and exfiltration channel to receive commands and upload stolen data. Because legitimate Telegram clients also resolve this host this signal should be correlated with unexpected processes making the query.

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Possible Telegram Bot API Command and Control Channel
Pivot detection · T1102 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.