A study conducted by Kaspersky Lab suggests that stalker software is rapidly gaining popularity among network intruders. Moreover, in Russia, the growth rate of attacks of this type exceeds global indicators.
So-called stalker software is special surveillance software that is positioned as legal and can be bought on the Internet. Such malware can work completely unnoticed by the user, and therefore the victim may not even be aware of the surveillance.
The study showed that in the first eight months of this year, more than 37 users around the world encountered stalker software. The number of victims increased by 35% compared to the same period in 2018.
At the same time, in Russia the number of victims of stalker software has more than doubled. If in January-August 2018 a little more than 4,5 thousand Russians encountered stalker programs, then this year - almost 10 thousand.
Kaspersky Lab also recorded an increase in the number of samples of stalker software. So, in eight months of 2019, the company discovered 380 variants of stalker programs. This is almost a third more than a year earlier.
“Against the background of higher rates of malware infection, the statistics on stalker programs may not look so impressive. However, in the case of such surveillance software, as a rule, there are no accidental victims - in most cases, these are people who are well known to the organizer of surveillance, for example, a spouse. In addition, the use of such software is often associated with the threat of domestic violence,” experts say.
Source: 3dnews.ru