Technology

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A little-known spyware maker based in Minnesota has been hacked, TechCrunch has learned, revealing thousands of devices around the world under its stealthy remote surveillance.

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The data shows that Spytech’s spyware — Realtime-Spy and SpyAgent, among others — has been used to compromise more than 10,000 devices since the earliest-dated leaked records from 2013, including Android devices, Chromebooks, Macs, and Windows PCs worldwide.

Spytech is the latest spyware maker in recent years to have itself been compromised, and the fourth spyware maker known to have been hacked this year alone.

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Spytech is a maker of remote access apps, often referred to as “stalkerware,” which are sold under the guise of allowing parents to monitor their children’s activities but are also marketed for spying on the devices of spouses and domestic partners. Spytech’s website openly advertises its products for spousal surveillance, promising to “keep tabs on your spouse’s suspicious behavior.”

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The breached data [...] contains logs of all the devices under Spytech’s control, including records of each device’s activity. Most of the devices compromised by the spyware are Windows PCs, and to a lesser degree Android devices, Macs and Chromebooks.

The device activity logs [...] were not encrypted.