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20% increase in use of online spying and stalking apps during lockdown in India, says Avast

Last Updated 20 July 2020, 10:32 IST

A global leader in digital security and privacy products, Avast, has found that globally, there has been a 51% increase in the use of spy and stalkerware since the lockdown in March until June, in comparison to January and February 2020.

In India, since March, Avast has protected over 4,000 users from apps capable of spying, mostly stalkerware, with the monthly average up 20% vs the first two months of the year. Stalkerware is unethical software that allows people to track someone's location, access their personal photos and videos, intercept emails, texts and app communications such as WhatsApp and Facebook, as well as eavesdrop on phone calls and make covert recordings of conversations over the internet, without the target's knowledge.

Among the entire range of spy and stalkerware, Avast has also observed a number of Covid-19-related apps designed to spy on users, which collected more information about its users than required to function, according to a press statement issued here on Monday.

Avast threat analysts have found three stalkerware apps in India that are named after India's official Covid-19 app, Aarogya Setu, and use an icon looking like, or reminding of the official app’s icon. When downloaded, the official Aarogya Setu app gets installed along with the stalkerware app. The stalkerware apps use the original app to get approval from the user to allow the collection of sensitive information. To spy on the user, it then uses the AcessibilityService of Android to get various permissions and gets the ability to make phone calls, get SIM serial number, read contacts, read phone state, read and send text messages, record calls/audio, queries call log, access device location and ID. The apps can also hide their icon, making it hard for the victim to notice it, and also have the capability to mute the ringer.

Jaya Baloo, chief information security officer, Avast said, “Stalkerware is a growing category of domestic malware with disturbing and dangerous implications. While spyware and infostealers seek to steal personal data, stalkerware is different: it steals the physical and online freedom of the victim. Usually installed secretly on mobile phones by so-called friends, jealous spouses, ex-partners, and even concerned parents, stalkerware tracks the physical location of the victim, monitors sites visited on the internet, text messages and phone calls, undermining a person’s individual liberty and online freedom.”

Avast has protected over 43,000 users globally from such malware since March 2020. Country specific data indicates 3,531 users have been targeted in the United States, 1,648 in France, and 3,048 in Brazil.

This growing digital threat identified by Avast is set against a backdrop of an increase in domestic violence during lockdown, called a “shadow epidemic” of the coronavirus by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of UN Women.

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(Published 20 July 2020, 10:21 IST)

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