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A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company's Servers -- Again (vice.com)
Last year, a vigilante hacker broke into the servers of a company that sells spyware to everyday consumers and wiped their servers, deleting photos captured from monitored devices. A year later, the hacker has done it again. Motherboard: Thursday, the hacker said he started wiping some cloud servers that belong to Retina-X Studios, a Florida-based company that sells spyware products targeted at parents and employers, but that are also used by people to spy on their partners without their consent. Retina-X was one of two companies that were breached last year in a series of hacks that exposed the fact that many otherwise ordinary people surreptitiously install spyware on their partners' and children's phones in order to spy on them. This software has been called "stalkerware" by some.
That a company like these should even exist is not really open to debate. It's one thing for warranted police to do this; it's quite another for the average man on the street to have this capability. As a 20-year systems administrator with loads of ability to see everything on the network, I never am tempted to do so. Unless and until HR asks me to engage in such an activity, I will never do it. People have a right to their privacy. Even here at work, I never go looking through user histories, etc. Let them do what they will short of breaking the law.
but we are not that lucky.
...so kudos to him
Does using software to monitor your ex-girlfriend's activity warrant a vigilante destroying the data you uploaded to a private company?
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Does using software to monitor your children's activity warrant a vigilante destroying a private company's data? The article reads a bit click-baity to me.
For that matter, maybe the parents told their kids they put the software on their devices.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
Does using software to monitor your children's activity warrant a vigilante destroying a private company's data? The article reads a bit click-baity to me.
For that matter, maybe the parents told their kids they put the software on their devices.
Precisely. "Monitoring your own kids' behavior" is neither evil nor criminal.
I run a Raspberry Pi running Pi-hole for my kids. I don't whitelist them, I blacklist the things I don't want them to see or use. With age comes more availability. In addition to blocking ads, beacons, and tracking evil at the DNS level, the Pi-hole allows you to truly see what happens at the DNS level on your personal network. It's pretty eye opening to see what's phoning "home". I never knew my Netgear router needed to phone Disney due to the child protection element built in (now nixed). It's alarming to see how much chatter Windows machines engage in with the mothership (again, nixed). You may not can turn off all of the Windows telemetry, but you can nix the DNS calls to the telemetry servers easily.
They should have put spyware in the spyware.
Ezekiel 23:20
Man, this took much longer than it used to...
Anyway, Obligatory Nelson Muntz.
#DeleteFacebook
yes, kids should have freedom to run around and not be stalked by their parents. same as we did in the 90s. fuck this company, hope the hacker did some real and permanent damage. it's called trust.
I told my kids I could track the gps on their phones to make sure they were where they said they would be. I had to ask the older kids to take a picture that proved where they where and send it but my oldest son was before smart phones so I actually I had to drive by and make sure he was there. My parents relied on the fact that we lived in a small town and I couldn't do anything without someone telling my mom before I got home.
I have exterior security cameras because although it's a nice neighborhood we get break ins around the holidays when people are on vacation.
My youngest son was questioned by the police recently about a robbery and I was able to prove on my security cameras he was home during the time.
what about monitoring a spouse or partner without their consent -- or even pressuring them to consent? nah. fuck this software. hope the entity that created it so be bankrupt next year.
Why do I keep reading it as Slackware? And is this a new and emerging opportunity to market Slackware to more people?
Ezekiel 23:20
the burden of proof is on the cop scum, not you or your kids to prove innocence.
This type of software falls well into a gray area. They will market people who are interested in spying on others. So while there are legit good uses for it, it is easily open for abuse.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
"cop scum"? You sure that's the term you want to use? If so, does your answer change if they're investigating a robbery that YOU were the victim in? And before you answer, understand there is a difference between "investigating" and "charging". Further, while the OP may or may not have intended to use the word, "robbery" involves the use of violence or threat of violence...which is different than "theft". If it was you who'd had a gun stuck into your face and relieved of your wallet, I'm confident you'd likely prefer the "cop scum" to investigate possible perpetrators. Choosing your words wisely is one of the hallmarks of maturity.
Social Media Handywoman at Texas Boys Balloo
yes, kids should have freedom to run around and not be stalked by their parents. same as we did in the 90s. fuck this company, hope the hacker did some real and permanent damage. it's called trust.
I grew up a few decades before you and was thinking the same thing. But one thing that you and kids today don't have to keep them in line is the fear that we had. Don't get me wrong, I did plenty of stupid shit when I was a kid. But we had corporal punishment at school back then. Which sucked and hurt a bit. But we also knew it was nothing compared to what we would get when we got home. It was the same if we got caught by the police or a neighbor turned us in to our parents. I think by the 90's it's unlikely that you had to worry about being ratted out by your neighbors. Either way, we had to think about whether or not what we were doing was worth the ass whooping we would get for getting caught. It was pretty clear to me that as a child I had absolutely no rights.
I'm not sure how I feel about this app being able to track kids. I seriously doubt it's legal to use this on an adult without their consent. It probably violates several wire tapping laws. However, they don't really exist for children. I can certainly see how some parents may want to use this. One things for sure, you're pretty much guaranteed that kids today will have their phone on them if nothing else.
"there's nothing that obligates me to like or respect most cops." "Most"? Really? Not all? Because labeling them as "cop scum" comes with no qualifiers or disclaimers. I'll guess since you walked your comment back even that much, you may have discerned the issue in your first comment. Investigating isn't "scum" action. I expect that if YOU were wrongly suggested to be a possible suspect in a robbery that you'd appreciate the police to do a competent and thorough investigation of you (assuming you DIDN'T do the crime) as opposed to hauling you in and beating a "voluntary" confession out of you, right? If you had video evidence that allowed them to cross your name off a list in under a minute, I'll go ahead and suggest that practicality will tell your attitude to shut up and sit down until after the nice officer has gone away satisfied you're not the droid they're looking for. Seriously, nobody likes the police...until they need them. You, possibly, have been blessed with an existence that, so far, hasn't informed your opinion better in a moment of actual need. And if that's the case, good for you. But in a civil society with rules, there are those who are needed to enforce those rules and bring to justice those who break them. That is the implied covenant we all agree to in order to live in a civilized society...whether you consciously agree or not.
Social Media Handywoman at Texas Boys Balloo
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like the police even after I needed them. The one time I "needed" them, their response was utterly bungled and useless.
Bullshit. The whole community watched you, and held you accountable for your actions. You didn't have anonymity or the right to not be seen running around outside.
She is married and has kids of her own now. (How the hell did I get to be old enough to be a grandfather?) But if I did have younger kids I would totally lojack their phones and computers. I would tell them about it too.
But if anyone out there is thinking about using something like this on their SO, don't. First of all it is a massive breach of trust. Secondly if you feel that you NEED to spy on your SO, then it is already over, just walk away with some dignity.
First law of people: People are generally stupid.
It's true that the police have the burden of proof but if I have indisputable evidence that will make them stop wasting my time then I'm not going to allow them to arrest him make me pay for a lawyer and take it to trial before I present it. I'm just going to say here security camera footage from the time of the robbery showing that he was home and not on the other side of town.
Someone has something against a manager or the owner where he works and the place has been swatted a couple times and they have given anonymous tips that the workers were involved in various crimes.
Because there's something called RESPECT, that shouldn't require spying on your partner. If your partner doesn't respect you enough to give you your personal space, you shouldn't be with them.
Don't get me wrong. I'm glad you don't have first hand experience with how many cops are scum. Just because one solves a robbery it doesn't mean they aren't still scum. Some are good people, but very few indeed.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
(1) Can he change jobs -- is working in that particular place so important as to put himself at risk?
(2) Why are the dumbass cops going after the employees, not the swatter?
He could get a job somewhere else for less pay and no one told him about it until after the police showed up to question him and three other co-workers.
It a non-issue now the police are well aware that the company has filed a lawsuit against them and they will be on their best behavior when dealing with them.
The customers for this company sound like interesting subjects for psychological study. Don't trust their spouses and kids, do trust nameless, faceless strangers who make software to violate people's privacy. If that ever makes sense to me, I'd rather spend the money on therapy.
(As for the hacker, I wonder if "zer0 c00l" here believes that Angelina Jolie will be his girlfriend now?)
Not only spy on their own kids, but upload their kids' data to a third party. This is either ignorant or evil.