It has been reported that a hacker was able to break into the servers of TheTruthSpy, a company that is described as “one of the most notorious stalkerware companies out there”  (Motherboard, August 2018) and was able to steal logins, audio recordings, text messages, and pictures of victims.

Motherboard has issued a series of stories that provides consumers with information about surveillance software that is used to spy on loved ones and others without their knowledge. According to Motherboard, TheTruthSpy is “openly marketing its product to domestic abusers.”

Spyware is exactly what it sounds like—it is software that enables one person to spy on another through their smartphone without their knowledge. It allows the spy to have access to another person’s camera, microphone, location services, emails, applications, etc.—basically everything that would allow the spy to find out very detailed information about the person. Spyware is marketed to assist with following a cheating spouse or significant other, children,  and to domestic abusers.

Recently, a hacker dubbed L.M. admitted to hacking into TheTruthSpy’s servers, which allowed him to access logins and passwords, location information, text messages, photos, social media chats, and other information on people that individuals were targeting with the spyware. Unfortunately, since many users use the same passwords across different platforms, including Amazon or PayPal accounts, the hacker was able to log into additional accounts that used the same password.

According to the hacker, “This data is very dangerous. You can know everything about any person…and the attacker identity. It is very easy to ransomware them…”