The Shadows of Surveillance: How a Deadly Industry is Exposing its Victims’ Secrets to Hackers
In a sickening turn of events, the shadowy industry of stalkerware, also known as “spyware” or “spouseware”, has been repeatedly compromised by hackers. A whopping 20 stalkerware companies, including household names like mSpy and pcTattletale, have had their customers’ personal data exposed, their internal information leaked, and their entire operations laid bare for all to see. It’s as if these companies were eager to invite the prying eyes of the internet into their midst.
Despite this, it’s difficult to know how much the public will remember these breaches. The short memory of the digital age can forgive even the most egregious wrongs, especially when it comes to stalkerware, a tool that preyed on the vulnerability of relationships gone wrong. But this is not the kind of exposure that will easily be forgotten.
Imagine, if you will, the victim’s husband, who hired mSpy to spy on his wife’s every move, only to have those very same moves, recorded and catalogued, fall into the wrong hands. It’s like a real-life script for a horror movie, with unsuspecting victims, exploited, then exhumed, their personal details scattered to the digital winds, without rhyme or reason.
But these victims are not the only ones paying the price. These hacks can and have led to cases of real-world harm, violence, and even death. Take the case of the victim who, armed with the knowledge gained from pcTattletale, discovered a world of pain and suffering her cheating partner had unleashed upon their daughter. The information exposed may have been meant for one eye alone, but in reality, the victim’s private hell, courtesy of hackers, went viral.
Of course, hackers like the ones responsible for exposing FlexiSpy’s operations have said, “We’re gonna burn them to the ground, leave them with no hiding place…” Yet, despite this rhetoric, no industry has been less willing to comply with security regulations, and many companies have continued to leave their customer’s data exposed.
So why would anyone do this? Ah, yes, the same reason our leaders do – money and power. As Eva Galperin from the Electronic Frontier Foundation put it, “The people who run these companies are perhaps not the most scrupulous, nor really concerned about the quality of their product…”
But as the news trickles out, a subtle trend emerges – people, quite rightly, are starting to freak out. PhoneSpector, one of the worst offenders, not only shut down but rebranded and reemerged, their crimes erased, their name fresh as new-minted, like the money they rake in.
And Galperin: “What happens most often, when you actually manage to kill a stalkerware company, is that the stalkerware company comes up like mushrooms after the rain…” That’s what our lawmakers should learn from – to stop merely reacting and to take preventative measures that really work. Because when your kids’ faces appear in hackers’ feeds, will you stand and fight for the rights that need safeguarding, or will it take a revolution?
Time and again, as stalkerware is hacked and victims cry, hackers laugh. Time and again, as they claim victim, time and again, we need the truth – stalkerware is a poisonous cocktail concocted to manipulate trust.
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