Woburn, MA – November 25, 2020 – In recognition of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as well as the one-year anniversary of the founding of the Coalition Against Stalkerware, Kaspersky has introduced a special stalkerware and spyware detection tool.
Stalkerware enables a person to secretly spy on another person’s private life via smart device, and is often used to facilitate violence against an intimate partner. The Coalition Against Stalkerware was founded in November last year in response to this growing threat. With the purpose of fighting against technology-facilitated abuse, the initiative aims to unite organizations that work to combat domestic violence with the IT security community.
Within a year, the alliance has grown from ten founding partners into a large international working group. Certo Software, ECHAP, the German Institute for Technology and Journalism (ITUJ e.V.), Traced Ltd, and WESNET have recently joined the Coalition, which now has 26 partners.
Keeping technology safe for all
The Coalition considers stalkerware to be a growing problem. In 2019, Kaspersky detected a 67% year-on-year increase of stalkerware usage on its users’ mobile devices globally. The number of stalkerware installations worldwide during the first 10 months of 2020 totaled more than 48,500, which is close to the total (almost 52,000 installations) observed over the same period in 2019. Although there is a slight decrease in numbers compared to last year, there is still no indication that stalkerware is disappearing.
Kaspersky experts see incidents every day around the globe. Part of their efforts aim to ensure that survivors should not be discriminated against and should not stop using their devices.
“We have to make sure that survivors have access to safe internet, safe phones and devices so that they can stay connected, reach out for help and, most importantly, be empowered to make the best decisions for themselves,” said Rachel Gibson, senior technology safety specialist at National Network to End Domestic Violence.
To help protect users against stalkerware, Félix Aimé, a security researcher in Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), has developed TinyCheck, a simple tool to detect stalkerware and spyware installed on smartphones and tablets, without making the perpetrator aware that such a check is being carried out.
“The idea came to me in a meeting while discussing the issue of stalkerware with a French women's rights non-profit organization,” said Félix Aimé. “The group wanted to help people who suspect stalkerware is running on their devices, without having to install additional applications or conducting forensic analysis.”
This easy-to-use open-source tool relies on the popular Raspberry Pi platform. Using a regular Wi-Fi connection, TinyCheck scans a mobile device’s outgoing traffic and identifies interactions with known malicious sources, such as spyware-related servers. The aim of TinyCheck is to help non-profit organizations, like service providers, support victims of domestic violence to protect these individuals and their privacy.
The first version of the open-source tool is available now at https://github.com/KasperskyLab/tinycheck.
A year of fighting stalkerware
“This is the first anniversary of the Coalition Against Stalkerware, and it has been quite a year in which we have learnt a lot,” said Kristina Shingareva, head of external relations at Kaspersky. “We now understand that stalkerware is not purely a technical problem. It’s not the IT part of the issue that is challenging, but the fact that we need to deal with the commercial availability of stalkerware, the lack of regulation around how it is being used and, perhaps the most difficult problem, the fact that violence against women and different forms of online abuse have been normalized. We can provide technical training on different forms of tech-enabled abuse for the NPOs, but it’s not enough – it should be complemented with a chapter focusing on and reflecting survivors’ psychological experiences.”
In keeping with the commitment to raise public awareness and educate service organizations about stalkerware, members of the Coalition have focused on public events and exchanging knowledge with experts. Activities in the recent months included Kaspersky experts giving an online workshop at the annual conference of the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators (WWP EN) at the beginning of September.
Last month, Kaspersky and other Coalition members partnered with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and United Nations (UN) Women in hosting an online event on the issue of stalkerware. Similarly, on November 2, the UN’s Internet Governance Forum hosted a pre-event virtual session, in which a few members of the Coalition Against Stalkerware discussed the issue. This was done together with a representative from Europol’s European Cybercrime Center EC3 in order to identify ways to act together against this developing cyberthreat.
As part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Kaspersky organized a series of regional digital events, including one in North America, titled “Stalkerware: When Abuse Goes Digital.” The events paired well-known influencers with experts in stalking prevention and combatting digital abuse to reach a wider public audience and inform about tech-enabled abuse.
Activities for the UN’s 16 Days of Activism
As part of its ongoing work, Coalition members have planned activities in support of the UN’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which will be running until December 10. This includes the WWP EN today kicking off a European campaign against cyber-violence. Kaspersky supports the 2020 Responsible Together campaign, which aims to spread awareness on cyber-violence against women and girls.
On December 10, the last day of 16 Days of Activism, Kaspersky will host another regional online event aimed at a French speaking audience to raise awareness about stalkerware. The event will facilitate a discussion about how individuals can protect themselves, and feature the Centre Hubertine Auclert, a French non-profit member of the Coalition Against Stalkerware. More information about other activities involving Coalition members can be found on the Coalition’s website.
How to guard against stalkerware
For users who suspect they may be affected or are being impacted by stalkerware, Kaspersky has the following recommendations:
- Contact your local support organizations or the police. They can give you professional assistance if you are concerned about, or have found, stalkerware on your device. The Coalition Against Stalkerware website is able to provide a list of support organizations
- Visit stopstalkerware.org and watch an explanatory video by the Coalition Against Stalkerware - both of which are available in six languages (English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish) - to find helpful information for victims and survivors to better understand and detect the warning signs of stalkerware. The video lists common indicators to check if someone thinks they may be a victim of stalkerware, and what steps they should and shouldn’t take
- Use proven cybersecurity protection, such as Kaspersky Internet Security, to run a check on your device and discover if stalkerware has been installed on it
About Coalition Against Stalkerware
The Coalition Against Stalkerware (“CAS” or “Coalition”) is a group dedicated to addressing abuse, stalking, and harassment via the creation and use of stalkerware. Currently comprised of direct service and international victim service agencies, as well as information technology security firms, the Coalition looks to bring together a diverse array of organizations to actively address the criminal behavior perpetrated through stalkerware and raise public awareness about this important issue. Due to the high societal relevance for users all over the globe, with new variants of stalkerware emerging periodically, the Coalition Against Stalkerware is open to new partners and calls for cooperation. To find out more about the Coalition Against Stalkerware please visit the official website www.stopstalkerware.org
About Kaspersky
Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help 250,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at usa.kaspersky.com.
Media Contact
Sawyer Van Horn
sawyer.vanhorn@Kaspersky.com
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