Stalkerware harvests informationfroma
victim’sdevicewithouttheir knowledge38 27 Nov-10 Dec2019
Ever getthe feeling you’rebeingwatched –maybe bysomeone you
know? DavidCrookes looks atthe scaryriseinstalkingsoftware
Stalkerware
Whatisstalkerware?
Stalkerwareisatype of surveillance
softwarethat’sinstalled onmobile
phones,tablets andcomputers withthe
purposeofallowing someoneto spyon
the device’suserwithouttheir consent.
It can monitor call logs andthe content
of text messages, amongother things,
to generatedaily activityreportsforthe
person whoinstalled it.Asyou can
imagine, it is often used asatool of
abuse and victimsareoften entirely
unaware thatthey’r ebeing watched.
Whois using thesetools?
Mostofthe time,itissomeone closeto
the victim, which is whythe various apps
thatallow this kindof invasiveactivity
arealso sometimesreferred to as
“spousewear”. They appearto be popular
amongex-partners, jealous lovers,
possessivefriends or rivalsat work.
Howisstalkerwareinstalled?
Unli ke spyware, which is usually spread
via other software, st alkerwareisa ctively
downloadedbefore being manually and
deliberately installed.This generally
requires physical access to the victim’s
devic eand the abilitytounlock it.
Oncestalkerwareisi nstalled, all the
perpetratorhas to do is launch it and
enter their email addressand apassword.
Reports about howthe deviceisb eing
used arethen eithersent to them or
madeavailableviaanonline dashboard.
What exactly is being tracked?
Aside from monitoring call information
and text messages,stalkerwarecan keep
an eyeonsomeone’sbrowsinghistory,
access adevice’ sGPS andeven record
the screen. Itcanalsolaunchadevice’s
camerasothatthe person who installed
the softwarecan directly spyonthe
individual and seewhatthey’r edoing at
thattime. In fact, anything seemstobe
fair game: from socialmedia and
passwords to photos and emails.Some
stalkerwarecan even track encrypted
communications made through apps such
as WhatsApp and access themicrophone.Surelyavictimknows
they’rebeing spied on?
Unfortunately,it’sreally hard
to determineifadevic ehas
beencompromised because
stalkerwarecan immediately
hide itstracks.Some tools
even continuerunning in the
background after being
uninstalled, whichmakesit
easytobelie ve thatnothing
untowardis ha ppening.
Indeed,avictim mayonly
get ahunchthatthey’rebeing spied on when theperpetrator
starts to discuss matters theyweren’t
directlytold about.Who is creatingthis
stalkerware?
Adepressing number of developers
appeartobelie ve it is perfectly
acceptableforpeopleto spyonsomeone
else’sdigital activity.Manywillclaim that
their apps have alegitimate use and are
designedforparents lookingto monitor
their children orforemployers anxious
to discoverifw orkers aremisusingOnce installed,stalkerwareallowsavicti mtobe
monitored via anonline dashboardFAQEverything youneed to know abou tthe mostinteresting newtechnology trends and events