Stalkerware is monitoring software or spyware that is used for cyberstalking. The term was coined when people started to widely use commercial spyware or monitoring software to spy on their spouses or intimate partners. Stalkerware has been criticized because of its use by abusers, stalkers, and employers.
Stalkerware is monitoring software or spyware that is used for cyberstalking. The term was coined when people started to widely use commercial spyware or monitoring software to spy on their spouses or intimate partners. Stalkerware has been criticized because of its use by abusers, stalkers, and employers.
== Definition and uses == Many information security experts and journalists apply the term stalkerware to any software (malicious programs and legitimate commercial monitoring products) that can be used or potentially be used for stalking. The following features of stalkerware are distinguished: powerful surveillance functions (key logging, making screenshots, monitoring of Internet activity, recording of location, recording video and audio); ability to work in stealth mode (the user is not notified about being monitored); the application is not visible in the list of installed programs; the running application is disguised as system processes or utility programs); correct installation and/or operation of the application requires disabling anti-viruses or the built-in protection in the OS; in case of mobile applications, the app is usually installed from resources other than official app stores, although there have been cases of stalkerware in app stores; the software manufacturer positions its product as a means of tracking an intimate partner or a tool for parental monitoring, while, in fact, anybody can use it to access another person's phone, determine their GPS location, read private messages, see through cameras and hear microphones.
Discovered by embedding cosine similarity (sentence-transformers MiniLM, 384-dim).