Millions of People Are Installing Malware on Their Partners’ Phones

This week Joseph speaks to Zack Whittaker, an editor at TechCrunch. Zack has been leading coverage into the spouseware or stalkerware industry. This is malware sold to ordinary people, which they then often install on their girlfriend’s or someone else’s phone. Zack talks about the crazy scope of this problem. 00:00 Zack Whittaker Intro 02:02 What Stalkerware Is & How It Works 07:11 The Massive Scale of Spyware Abuse 09:37 Domestic Abuse, Victims & Safety Challenges 13:11 Detecting & Removing Stalkerware 16:03 How iPhone Spyware Attacks Work 19:29 Apple, Google & Platform Responsibility 27:30 Inside the Spyware Industry 32:26 Legal Action Against Spyware Companies 35:26 Why Reporting on Stalkerware Matters 38:01 Strange Cases, Government Links & National Security 41:44 How Easy It Is to Buy Spyware 45:08 Why Spyware Companies Keep Getting Hacked This Week In Security Newsletter: https://this.weekinsecurity.com Behind the stalkerware network spilling the private phone data of hundreds of thousands: https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/22/sta... Spyzie stalkerware is spying on thousands of Android and iPhone users: https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/27/spy... Stalkerware tag on TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/tag/stalkerware/ This is a production of 404 Media, a journalist-owned tech website. Learn more and subscribe at: htttps://404media.co Listen to our weekly podcasts: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F3oY47... Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0... Become a paid subscriber for access to bonus content: https://404media.co/membership