A group of organisations who work against domestic violence have joined forces with IT security companies to launch Coalition Against Stalkerware with the aim of combatting occurrences of domestic violence.
In this internet age, it seems that privacy is becoming more and more of a concept rather than a reality. In the cloud, everything is accessible, whether you like to admit or not. Although it is extremely difficult the content in our personal clouds, some people have been using Stalkerware in order to access the the most private aspects of peoples’ lives.
Stalkerware are programs that present users the opportunity to intrude into people’s photos, messages, social media, location, and more; which are currently and frequently being used as a means of instigating domestic abuse and stalking.
“For years, Malwarebytes has detected and warned users about the potentially dangerous capabilities of stalkerware, an invasive threat that can rob individuals of their expectation of, and right to privacy. Just like the abuse it can enable, stalkerware also proliferates away from public view, leaving its victims and survivors in isolation, unheard and unhelped…”said David Ruiz, Online Privacy Writer for Malwarebytes Labs
According to Kaspersky, the internet security company, the issue is only worsening; with the amount of users facing these intrusive programs rising by 35% since last year. On top of that, there are more variants of Stalkerware available than ever before.
As part of the coalition’s action, the website www.stopstalkerware.org has been launched with the goal to provide helpful online resources for victims. On the website you’ll find information on what Stalkerware is, what it does, how to protect yourself, and what steps to take, and what steps to avoid.
Ten organisations in total have committed to working together to do everything in their power to overcome the harmful effects of Stalkerware.
In order to counter this issue, it is important for cybersecurity vendors and advocacy organizations to work together…” said Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, Head of Anti-Malware Research at Kaspersky.
To find out more about the Coalition Against Stalkerware please visit the official website www.stopstalkerware.org
