Worldwide, the use of Stalkerware has increased considerably and unfortunately it is associated with cases of domestic violence and psychological abuse of the victims, who are mostly women.
The study called “Digital Harassment in relationships” shows that 55% of Latin Americans do not know what Stalkerware is and have no way of recognizing if they are being digitally harassed, so they also do not know how to protect themselves.
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In the study, the most common forms of digital harassment were also revealed, among which mobile phone monitoring stands out, with 54% of responses, and also includes the use of specially designed monitoring devices (36 %), programs installed on computers (24%), webcam spying (14%) and smart home devices (12%).
It is important to point out that 13% of the victims cannot identify how the harassment occurred, which shows that they are unaware of the existence of these tools.
“Most of the time, stalkerware is installed by physically accessing the devices, so the harassment is always carried out by someone close to the victim such as the spouse, family member or romantic partner”, INDICATED Carolina Mojica, Product Manager for the Consumer for the North and South Regions of Latin America at Kaspersky.
How do I know if I am a victim of digital harassment?
- To check if your cell phone contains stalkerware installed, locate the following indicators:
- Check the permissions of installed applications: apps with permission granted to data such as location, call logs and the like are prime candidates for being camouflaged stalkerware.
- Check the “unknown sources” settings on Android devices: If the “unknown sources” function is activated on your mobile, it could mean that a third party has installed an unwanted program.
- Check the browser history: to download the program on the computer, the intruder must search for it on pages that the user does not know, so if results appear that you cannot locate or if you do not have a history, he begins to suspect.
- Use cybersecurity protection on your mobile: the use of antivirus software on your device could be the filter that prevents your data from being exposed.
What to do if I discovered that I have Stalkerware installed on my mobile device?
- Do not uninstall the program immediately: if you get rid of the software, the spy could detect it and you will be in a risky situation.
- Keep evidence: If you can already get rid of the program, consider saving any photos or screenshots for legal purposes.
- Contact local authorities and organizations that support victims of domestic violence: remember that you are not alone, so go to the relevant authorities after discovering these programs.