Telegram Bot Interceptor: A Tutorial

Introduction

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a Telegram bot interceptor to capture and log messages sent to a bot. The purpose is to understand potential vulnerabilities in Telegram bots and highlight the importance of securing bot tokens. Additionally, we explore scenarios where bot tokens could be leaked and the associated dangers.

Prerequisites

1. Install Python Libraries:
   • Use the following command to install the required libraries:

     pip install python-telegram-bot telethon

2. Set Up a Telegram Bot:
   • Create a bot using BotFather on Telegram and obtain its bot token.
3. Obtain Telegram API Credentials:
   • Visit the Telegram Developer Portal to obtain your api_id and api_hash.

Step 1: Set Up the Interceptor

The interceptor script listens for messages sent to the bot and logs them to the console.

from telegram.ext import Application, MessageHandler, filters

# Replace with your bot token
BOT_TOKEN = "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"

async def log_messages(update, context):
    user = update.effective_user
    message = update.message.text
    print(f"Intercepted message from {user.username or user.id}: {message}")

async def main():
    app = Application.builder().token(BOT_TOKEN).build()
    app.add_handler(MessageHandler(filters.TEXT, log_messages))
    print("Interceptor bot is running...")
    await app.run_polling()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import asyncio
    asyncio.run(main())