Stalkerware is a toxic tool for domestic abusers. This coalition wants to stop it.

admin  |   2025-04-26 02:54:00

Human rights and privacy groups, as well as internet security companies, are teaming up to fight stalkerware.

Stalkerware is, as Mashable's own Jack Morse described it, "a noxious class of software designed to surreptitiously run in the background of smartphones" in order to "keep tabs on everything you do."

And it's added a terrible new dimension to domestic violence.

"Like other forms of domestic abuse, the use of stalkerware on phones affects people from all walks of life," explained Eva Galperin, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's director of cybersecurity, to Morse earlier this year. "I have been contacted by men being spied on by women, men being spied on by men, and women being spied on by women, but the majority of cases that I see are of women whose phones are being spied on by a partner or a former partner, who is usually a man."

"The majority of cases that I see are of women whose phones are being spied on by a partner..."

Making matters worse, stalkerware is relatively cheap and widely available online. And though mobile app stores have refused to offer these nefarious programs, a few have managed to slip through the cracks. Earlier in 2019, Google removed seven stalkerware apps that found their way into the Google Play store.

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The new Coalition Against Stalkerware brings together the Electronic Frontier Foundation as well as anti-virus companies like NortonLifelock, Malwarebytes, and Kaspersky, and organizations like Operation Safe Escape and the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence.

The other members of the coalition are Avira, G Data Cyber Defense, NNEDV, and Weisser Ring.

Education and resources will be at the forefront of the coalition's mission, with their site offering explainers as to what stalkerware is and, more importantly, how to find it and remove it from your phone.

Additionally, there will be news updates on stalkerware, additional educational resources, and links to other organizations that support victims of domestic violence.

SEE ALSO: Maria Menounos talks about her work to keep domestic abuse survivors with their pets

More action against stalkerware came in October from the FTC, which blocked a company from releasing three stalkerware apps.

If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224.