Spyware

Description

On a computer it usually arrives alongside other malware or through an exploited vulnerability. On a phone it is worse — advanced surveillance tools can install themselves with no action from the victim at all and run without a trace. That is why they are a favored weapon against journalists, activists and political opponents, but the same mechanism shows up in corporate espionage and in domestic abuse.

Because it does no obvious harm, spyware can go unnoticed for months. What gives it away is its activity rather than anything overtly malicious: bursts of traffic to unfamiliar servers, a battery draining fast for no clear reason, a camera or microphone waking up when nobody is using them. With spyware on the device, no conversation and no password is only yours.

Examples

• A journalist's phone is infected with an advanced surveillance tool, without their knowledge and without a single tap; the attacker reads messages, listens to calls and follows their location in real time.
• A browser extension, presented as a coupon finder, records everything the user types while shopping.
• An abuser installs a parental control app on their partner's phone to follow every message, call and location.

Notes

• Spyware on a phone has no icon and little to notice — the only trace is how the device behaves, which processes are running, and what traffic leaves it.
• When spyware is suspected, changing passwords on that same infected device achieves nothing and changes nothing.