stalkerware

This simple guide helps you identify and remove common consumer-grade spyware apps from your Android phone.

A consumer-grade spyware operation called TheTruthSpy poses an ongoing security and privacy risk to thousands of people whose Android devices are unknowingly compromised with its mobile surveillance apps, not least due to a simple security flaw that its operators never fixed. Now, two hacking groups have independently found the flaw that allows the mass access…

The makers of two phone surveillance services appear to have shuttered after the owner agreed to settle state accusations of illegally promoting spyware that his companies developed. PhoneSpector and Highster were consumer-grade phone monitoring apps that facilitated the covert surveillance of a person’s smartphone. Commonly dubbed stalkerware (or spouseware), these apps are typically planted on…

It’s the season to go a little overboard on gift giving. But this year, give the gift of good security (and privacy) and eschew tech that can have untoward risks or repercussions. We’re not talking about things that go boom in the night or abruptly break, but rather the gifts that can have irreversible or…

A Portuguese-language spyware called WebDetetive has been used to compromise more than 76,000 Android phones in recent years across South America, largely in Brazil. WebDetetive is also the latest phone spyware company in recent months to have been hacked. In an undated note seen by TechCrunch, the unnamed hackers described how they found and exploited…

A phone surveillance app called Spyhide is stealthily collecting private phone data from tens of thousands of Android devices around the world, new data shows. Spyhide is a widely used stalkerware (or spouseware) app that is planted on a victim’s phone, often by someone with knowledge of their passcode. The app is designed to stay…

A network of fake sellers, created with forged documents, allowed a global phone surveillance ring to operate under the radar for years.

A hacker has stolen the messages, call logs and locations intercepted by a widely used phone monitoring app called LetMeSpy, according to the company that makes the spyware. The phone monitoring app, which is used to spy on thousands of people using Android phones around the world, said in a notice on its login page…

A year after it was banned by the Federal Trade Commission, a notorious phone surveillance company is back in all but name, a TechCrunch investigation has found. A groundbreaking FTC order in 2021 banned the stalkerware app SpyFone, its parent company Support King, and its chief executive Scott Zuckerman from the surveillance industry. The order,…

A little-known phone monitoring app called Xnspy has stolen data from tens of thousands of iPhones and Android devices, the majority whose owners are unaware that their data has been compromised. Xnspy is one of many so-called stalkerware apps sold under the guise of allowing a parent to monitor their child’s activities, but are explicitly…

Leaked data, obtained by TechCrunch, reveals the notorious network of Android spyware apps tracked locations and recorded calls of Americans.

TechCrunch today launched a spyware lookup tool that allows anyone to check if their Android device was compromised by a network of consumer-grade stalkerware apps, including TheTruthSpy. The aim is to help victims check if their device was compromised and reclaim control of their device. It follows a months-long investigation by TechCrunch into the apps…

It’s not just one spyware app exposing people’s phone data, but an entire fleet of Android spyware apps that share the same security vulnerability.

The private phone data of hundreds of thousands of people are at risk. Call records, text messages, photos, browsing history, precise geolocations and call recordings can all be pulled from a person’s phone because of a security issue in widely used consumer-grade spyware. But that’s about as much as we can tell you. TechCrunch repeatedly…