Tag Archive for: ‘Stalkerware’

Stalkerware remains significant problem throughout COVID lockdowns

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Stalkerware remains a significant problem with more 50,0000 users affected globally in 2020, according to new research from Kaspersky.

The recent Kaspersky report, The State of Stalkerware 2020, found a total of 53,870 mobile users were affected globally by the secret surveillance software used in the field of domestic violence.

The situation has not much improved compared to the year before. In 2019, Kaspersky discovered 67,500 affected mobile users. 

“At the same time, when talking about improvements, it is important to take the start of the pandemic into account as stalkerware is often used to digitally control the life of an intimate partner,” Kaspersky says. 

“With this in mind, it is unsurprising that the yearly curve of users affected by stalkerware globally shows a decline in reports from March to June 2020, before numbers began to stabilizs thereafter. This coincides with the beginning of worldwide lockdowns, and later when many countries around the world began to ease restrictions.”

Global dimension of stalkerware

Stalkerware is a form of cyberviolence, and a global phenomenon that affects countries regardless of size, society, or culture: Russia, Brazil, the United States of America, India and Mexico are at the top of Kaspersky’s 2020 list of countries where users are most impacted. Below them, Germany is the first European country, occupying sixth place in the global rankings. Iran, Italy, the United Kingdom and, lastly, Saudi Arabia complete the ten most affected nations.

Table 1 – 2020 Top ten most affected countries by stalkerware – globally

1 Russian Federation

Affected users: 12,389

2 Brazil

Affected users: 6523

3 United States of America

Affected users: 4745

4 India

Affected users: 4627

5 Mexico: 

Affected users: 1570

6 Germany

Affected users: 1547

7 Iran

Affected users: 1345

8 Italy

Affected users: 1144

9 United Kingdom

Affected users: 1009

10 Saudi Arabia

Affected users: 968

“We see the number of users affected by stalkerware has remained high and we detect new samples every day,” says Victor Chebyshev, Research Development Team Lead, Kaspersky.

“It’s important to remember that there is somebody’s real life story behind all…

Source…

Google Finally Gets Around To Banning Ads For Stalkerware

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Stalkerware is one of those things that most people never would have considered when technologies were being developed, but which in hindsight come off as practically inevitable. These apps, often times named as if they would be chiefly marketed to parents trying to keep tabs on their kids, but which instead are also specifically advertised as ways to stalk current romantic partners and exes, are all different flavors of creepily allowing a person to snoop on the location and activities of an unsuspecting other person. The whole concept is so obviously evil that it’s a wonder why any platform would allow these apps to be sold in the first place, and yet it was only in 2019 that Google managed to ban them from its app store.

Antivirus company Avast said Wednesday that it’s found seven stalkerware apps available on Android’s market. In all, they had been installed more than 130,000 times. Google removed four of the apps after Avast reported the privacy violations on Tuesday, and removed the last three on Wednesday.

Google said its policy prohibits commercial spyware apps and encourages people to report any apps that violate its standards.

Since then, Google has regularly had to purge new creepy entrants into the stalking marketplace, but it has done its best to keep up. Because, as Google stated in its policy above, such apps are prohibited on the app store.

But not in Google’s advertisements, apparently, at least up until this past week.

In an ad policy update this week, Google said that beginning August 11 it will prohibit ads for products or services marketed for secretly tracking or monitoring someone. This includes, but is not limited to:

Spyware and technology used for intimate partner surveillance including but not limited to spyware/malware that can be used to monitor texts, phone calls, or browsing history; GPS trackers specifically marketed to spy or track someone without their consent; promotion of surveillance equipment (cameras, audio recorders, dash cams, nanny cams) marketed with the express purpose of spying.

Credit where it’s due: Google’s change in policy is good. And, given the massive ecosystem that is Google’s advertising system, it’s easy to imagine how the company might not have been initially prepared for the review and purges necessary to keep these sorts of ads off its platform.

But the truth is that’s a massively weak caveat, given the nature of these ads. Reading Google’s description of the types of ads that are newly banned, it practically yanks the follow up question out of your mouth: Wait, why did you ever allow ads for this sort of thing in the first place? As the Gizmodo post notes, Google has been aware of just how big a problem stalkerware has been on its platforms since at least 2018, and almost certainly before. How has this possibly taken this long?

Techdirt.