Spyzie Stalkerware spase thousands of Android and iPhone users

A little known phone surveillance operation, called Spyzie, has compromised more than half a million Android devices and thousands of iPhone and iPads, according to data shared by a security researcher.

Most affected devices owners, who are not known, do not know that their phone data have been compromised.

Security researcher told Techcrunch that Spyzie is vulnerable to the same bug as Cocospy and Spyictwo almost identical but different from the brand Stalkerware Applications that share the same source code and exposed the data of over 2 million people, as we reported last week. The bug allows anyone to access the phone data, including messages, photos and location data, exfilted by any device compromised by the three applications.

The error also exposes the E -mail addresses of each customer who has registered for Spyzie to compromise someone else’s device, the researcher said.

The researcher exploited the error to collect 518,643 unique E -mail addresses of SPYZIE clients and provided E -mail address cache and Troy Hunt, operating I was pwned Data breach notification site.

This last leak shows how more and more con -consumer surveillance applications have become increasingly, even from little known operations such as Spyzie, which are barely online and are largely forbidden by Google to give results of advertisements in search resultsAnd yet they have accumulated thousands of paying customers.

Collective, Cocospy, Spyic and Spyzie are used by over three million customers.

The leak also shows that the defects of the Stalkerware applications are increasingly frequent and risk at risk both the customer and the victim’s data. Even for parents who want to use these applications to monitor their children, which is legal, they put the data of their children in danger.

By our number spyzie is now twenty -fourth stalkerware surgery Since 2017, it has been hacked or exhibited or exhibited the extremely sensitive data of its victims due to scary security.

Spyzie operators did not return Techcrunch’s comment application. At the time of writing, the error has not yet been remedied.

Planted Android applications and stolen apple accreditations

Applications such as Spyzie, or Cocospy and Spyic, are designed to remain hidden by home screens, which makes applications difficult to identify by their victims. During this time, the applications continuously load the contents of the victim on the spyware servers and are accessible to the person who planted the application.

A copy of the data shared by the Techcrunch security researcher shows that the vast majority of the affected Spyzie victims are Android devices, whose phones must be physically accessed to plant the Spyzie app, usually by someone with knowledge about the device access code.

This is one of the reasons why these applications are usually used in the context of abusive relationships, where people often know the telephone code of their romantic partner.

Data also shows that Spyzie has been used to compromise at least 4,900 iPhone and iPads.

Apple has stricter rules on which applications can run on iPhone and iPads, so the stalkerware usually reaches the data of the victim stored in Apple cloud storage services, using the Apple account credentials, rather than on the device itself.

Some of the first owners compromised by Apple devices date from the beginning of February 2020 and since July 2024, SPYZIE raised records show.

How to remove Spyzie Stalkerware

As with Cocospy and Spyic, it was not possible to identify the individual victims of Spyzie’s surveillance from the scraped data.

But you can do things to see if your phone has been compromised by Spyzie.

For Android users: Even if Spyzie is hidden from sight, you can usually call ✱✱001✱✱ in your Android phone app key and then the call button. If Spyzie is installed, it should appear on the screen.

This is a rear feature incorporated into the application that allows the person who planted the app on the victim’s phone to regain access. In this case, it can also be used by the victim to see if the application is installed.

Techcrunch has one General Guide to Removing Android Spyware This can help you identify and eliminate the common types of phone Stalkerware and start your settings to secure your Android device.

You should have and A safety plan in effectwhereas the stopping of the spyware can warn the person who planted it.

For iPhone and iPad users: Spyzie relies on the use of the Apple account user name of the victim and password to access the data stored in their iCloud account. You should make sure your Apple account is using Authentication with two factorswhich is a vital protection against account hacks and a main way for stalkerware to target your data. You should check and Eliminate any device from your Apple account you don’t recognize.

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If you or someone you know needs help, the direct line of national domestic violence (1-800-799-7233) offers free confidential support for victims of domestic abuse and violence. If you are in an emergency situation, call 911. Coalition against Stalkerware Has resources if you think your phone has been compromised by spyware.