Thousands of surveilled devices exposed in spyware vendor hack
The Minnesota-based spyware maker Spytech Software and Design, Inc. has allegedly been breached, and “persons with knowledge” exposed the logs of thousands of remotely monitored phones, tablets, and computers, TechCrunch reports.
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The Minnesota-based spyware maker Spytech Software and Design, Inc. has allegedly been breached, and “persons with knowledge” exposed the logs of thousands of remotely monitored phones, tablets, and computers, TechCrunch reports.
The data, verified by TechCrunch as authentic, reveals that Spytech’s products Realtime-Spy and SpyAgent have been used to compromise 10,000 devices worldwide, including Android, Chromebook, Mac, and Windows devices, since 2013.
Some of the exfiltrated logs relate to the company’s CEO, Nathan Polencheck, who installed the spyware on one of his devices. When contacted by reporters, the CEO said he didn't know about the breach.
He told TechCrunch that he hadn't seen the data, and all he could say was “that I am investigating everything and will take the appropriate actions.”
Analysis of location data revealed clusters of monitored devices across Europe and America. Fewer devices were monitored on other continents. The data collected from infected devices was stored unencrypted on the company’s servers.
TechCrunch could not notify the victims of the breach, as the exposed data, while sensitive and personal, does not contain enough identifiable information.
This is the second spyware service to be breached recently. pcTattletale had 139,000 email addresses exposed among 100GB of data posted on its defaced website. The breach included device information, SMS messages, and MD5 hashed passwords. Data breach notification service Have I Been Pwned later obtained a copy and included 138,000 customers.