According to data from Kaspersky, the number of victims of stalkerware, this spyware intended to monitor the online activity of a spouse, is down around 10% in 2022. In France, the publisher of cybersecurity thus counted 365 victims of stalkerware in 2022, against 410 in 2021 and 904 in 2020. This places France in 14e rank of the most affected countries – Russia, Brazil and India being in the lead.
Is there a spy in your pocket? ??️?
THE #stalkerware are software that allow you to spy on another person’s private life via their ?.
It is particularly used in abusive relationships ▶️ https://t.co/Yo5vQBs0WL#Women’sRightsDay pic.twitter.com/4quc5BFmgG— Kaspersky France (@kasperskyfrance) March 8, 2023
So many worrying figures – the use of such spyware can be accompanied or favor physical violence – which must however be taken with a grain of salt. These statistics only reflect the number of unique mobile users affected by stalkerware and using one of Kaspersky’s security solutions. Thus, it is not surprising to find Russia at the top of the affected countries, this country being the historical market of the publisher.
But, even if these figures are partial, they constitute an interesting indicator when there is a lack of data to analyze the extent of the use of spyware.
“The problem will not go away on its own”
“Despite a slight drop in 2022, the problem of stalkerware remains a global phenomenon”, estimates Kaspersky, involved in the coalition against stalkerware, this organization which brings together several antivirus software publishers and associations fighting against this phenomenon. “The relative stability recorded this year highlights the global scale of online harassment, and suggests that the problem will not go away on its own.”
Eventually, however, we can hope to have more complete data. To better identify stalkerware, the association for the fight against sexist cyberviolence Echap maintains a GitHub repository on indicators of compromise, the traces left by this spyware. And one of Kaspersky’s former GreAT researchers, Félix Aimé, also developed the Tiny Check project, software that scans network communications live to detect the presence of active stalkerware on the device.
A type of application that has spread in recent months in the French police and justice services. The victim support office of the Paris judicial court has been equipped with the Deloge device since September 2022, as have the Yvelines gendarmerie brigades, equipped with a similar device. So many applications that could make it possible to better detect the use of spyware and to fight against such fraudulent use.