Description

In a recent incident of Spy vs Spy, the mobile monitoring app mSpy suffered a data breach, exposing information about millions of its customers. As Malwarebytes Labs has noted, companies that create apps for non-consensual spying are often lax in their own security. This is mSpy's third known breach since its inception around 2010. TechCrunch reports that in May 2024, attackers stole millions of customer support tickets, including personal information, support emails, and attachments with personal documents. The stolen data spans a decade, dating back to 2014, affecting millions of individual tickets and their corresponding email addresses and content. Parental monitoring apps like mSpy present privacy issues, especially when used without consent. They offer an intrusive view into children’s lives, including access to text messages, photos, browsing activity, locations, and call logs. These capabilities also pose privacy concerns when used against adults. While mSpy now markets itself for parental safety, it previously promoted its use in monitoring adults in workplaces and relationships. In 2014, mSpy's website suggested that employers could ensure employees were not wasting time on personal emails, and a 2012 archive advertised it for discovering infidelity. Malwarebytes refers to such apps as “stalkerware.” As a founding member of the Coalition Against Stalkerware, Malwarebytes advises against using these apps. The Coalition defines stalkerware as tools that enable secret spying on someone's private life via their mobile device. These programs can monitor web searches, geolocation, messages, photos, calls, and more, running hidden in the background without the affected person's knowledge or consent. Despite stalkerware's availability, the abuser using it is accountable for the crime of spying.