The cases of stalkerware operations are rising worldwide. With each new case, hackers and bad actors are getting more advanced and implementing more sophisticated techniques to compromise the information and security of the innocent. Most recently, we have heard of cyberattacks and cases of online spying amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now, a report from TechCrunch reveals that a stalkerware is spying on hundreds of thousands of people around the world, including Indians and Americans. The stolen data includes the compromised devices' location, text messages and call logs.
Per the report, the leaked data includes "personal device data of unsuspecting victims whose Android phones and tablets were compromised by a fleet of near-identical stalkerware apps, including TheTruthSpy, Copy9, MxSpy and others." In addition, the report also mentions that people planted the infected Android apps with physical access to a person's smartphone or tablet. These apps are designed to hide in plain sight, i.e., on users' home screens and continue to upload the phone's sensitive information without the owner's consent.
While the publication did inform users about the stalkerware operation months ago, it has recently received tens of gigabytes of data containing the core database of the stalkerware operation. The database consists of records of all the Android devices that were compromised by any of the apps mentioned above. If someone wants to check whether their data is a part of the leak, they can enter their device's IMEI number on this lookup tool created by the publication.
TechCrunch reports, "TheTruthSpy's network is enormous, with victims on every continent and in almost every country." The spyware is functional in a legal grey area, making it difficult for authorities to recognise it. Although it is possible that the spyware's server only retains partial data for weeks, the analysis from March 4 to April 14, 2022, reveals that it was functional across North America, South America, Europe, some parts of Africa, south-east part of Asia and India.
In the United States, spyware has marked over 278,000 locations, while in India, it has marked about 77,400 locations. Overall, the database contains a total of 1.2 million text messages and 4.42 million call log records for the duration mentioned above. Even more shocking is that the database also has over 179,000 call recordings. With evidence of uploaded photos and videos and data extracted from users' keyboards, this looks to be one of the largest data leaks ever. It looks like the legal surveillance organisations that are functional in every part of the world; it is their database that has been leaked on the internet.
For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.