Stalkerware: Violating your privacy by creeping up on you via your phone

In early April, Russian cybersecurity company, Kaspersky Lab, significantly upgraded its anti-virus offerings. The company added a “Privacy Alert” to its “Kaspersky Security for Android” program, which is designed to detect and remove malware from mobiles. The new alert flags a class of programs referred to in the cybersecurity industry as Stalkerware.

Stalkerware is a subset of spyware — programs designed to infiltrate digital devices and sweep up data. Stalkerware masks its presence, like spyware, and it monitors all activity, stealthily picking up conversations, emails, text messages, internet and social media activity, location info, financial transactions and so on.  

But