'White Hat' Hackers Shut Down Spyware Snooping on 76,000 People

In a significant cybersecurity incident, WebDetetive, a Portuguese-language spyware notorious for compromising Android devices, has itself been hacked, leading to the alleged deletion of victim devices from its network.

TechCrunch reports that WebDetetive, a spyware application that has infiltrated over 76,000 Android phones predominantly in Brazil and South America, recently fell victim to a cyberattack. Unnamed hackers claimed to have exploited multiple security vulnerabilities in WebDetetive’s servers, gaining access to its user databases. The hackers were able to access every dashboard record, including customer email addresses, by exploiting flaws in the spyware maker’s web dashboard used by abusers to steal phone data.

The hackers went on to state that they had the capability to delete victim devices from the spyware network, effectively severing the connection at the server level to prevent the device from uploading new data. “Which we definitely did. Because we could. Because #fuckstalkerware,” the hackers wrote in a note. This claim, however, has not been independently verified.

The hackers shared a cache containing more than 1.5 gigabytes of data scraped from WebDetetive’s web dashboard with DDoSecrets, a nonprofit transparency collective. The data included information about each customer, such as the IP address they logged in from and their purchase history. It also listed every device that each customer had compromised, the version of the spyware running on the phone, and the types of data being collected. The data revealed that at the time of the breach, WebDetective had compromised 76,794 devices.

WebDetetive is categorized as “stalkerware,” a type of phone monitoring app that is often installed without the victim’s consent. Once activated, the app uploads a wide range of personal data to its servers, including messages, call logs, phone call recordings, photos, and real-time location data. Despite the broad access these apps have to a victim’s personal and sensitive data, they are known for their shoddy coding and security vulnerabilities.

When hackers use their skills for beneficial purposes, they are commonly referred to on the internet as “white hat” hackers.