Supported by INTERPOL, Kaspersky has joined hands with some of the members of the Coalition Against Stalkerware to provide police officers with the required knowledge to investigate cyber stalking and domestic violence in different parts of the world
In a new development, Kaspersky has joined hands with the fellow members of the Coalition Against Stalkerware including USA’s NNEDV (the national network to End domestic violence) and Wesnet (Australia’s national umbrella organization for domestic violence services) to provide police officers in different countries with the required knowledge to investigate cyber stalking and domestic violence.
The online training sessions were actively supported by INTERPOL. The bygone month of October 2021 was observed as the Cybersecurity Awareness Month as well as Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). The goal of the online training, which involved more than 210 participants, is to help enhance capacity building within law enforcement agencies, support victims requesting assistance, and hold perpetrators to account.
“Digital stalking is an issue known to the global law enforcement community, but there is a need to enhance capabilities around how to conduct investigations on stalkerware. The software hides itself and investigations need to be undertaken carefully for the safety of the victims”, says says Pei Ling Lee, Acting Assistant Director of Cyber Strategy and Capabilities Development, INTERPOL. “The online sessions organized together with Kaspersky, NNEDV and Wesnet offered helpful advice for our member countries. INTERPOL is committed to work continually with the Coalition Against Stalkerware to promote the training to the global law enforcement community and to increase awareness of this problem,” explains Lee.
Stalkerware enables a perpetrator to secretly spy on another person’s private life via a mobile device. The software is commercially available and provides access to an array of personal data, such as device location, browser history, text messages, social media chats, photos and more. However, stalkerware is not only an issue of privacy invasion, it’s yet another form of digital and domestic violence.
“Stalking is a known risk associated with the increased likelihood of lethal and near-lethal harm. Our research with Australian frontline family violence workers found that tracking and monitoring of women by perpetrators had risen 244 percent between 2015 and 2020, and stalking is often via technological means. It is one of the most common forms of abuse co-occurring with domestic and family violence,” adds Karen Bentley, Chief Executive Officer, Wesnet.
“The misuse of technology as a tactic of abuse is incredibly common. Keeping up with constantly evolving technology that is being weaponized can be a challenge for law enforcement, advocates, and survivors. It’s important for professionals working with survivors to understand the ways technology can be misused and how to support survivors. Survivors should be empowered to learn how to increase their privacy and safety with technology,” emphasizes Erica Olsen, Director of Safety Net, National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV).
According to Kaspersky’s State of Stalkerware 2020 report, 53,870 mobile users worldwide were affected by stalkerware in 2020. Keeping in mind the big picture, these numbers only include Kaspersky users, and the total global numbers will be higher. The Coalition Against Stalkerware – co-founded by Kaspersky in 2019 and comprising today of more than 40 active organizations tackling the issue of stalkerware – estimates that usage of stalkerware likely exceeds one million instances per year.
“We’re glad to be working together with law enforcement agencies to share our expertise on the stalkerware threat. However, knowledge of the threat alone doesn’t help tackle it. That’s why we also give officers several solutions, including TinyCheck – a helpful open source tool to safely detect stalkerware when being confronted with a suspected case. Ideally, TinyCheck will become a standard tool to help victim support and law enforcement agencies alike to easily confirm whether stalkerware is installed on a device,” comments Noushin Shabab, Senior Security Researcher, Kaspersky.
In each of the online training sessions, Kaspersky experts shared know-how from a technical perspective around what stalkerware is and its installation methods. Law enforcement officers also learnt about different methods to detect stalkerware safely for a victim. An important element included an introduction of how to work with TinyCheck, a free anti-stalkerware tool that allows the user to scan any device for stalkerware without making the perpetrator aware.
Qaisar
