The Lookout Blog

50 Arrested in Romania for Using Smartphone Spy Application

Today the Register released an article detailing how 50 people were arrested in Romania for using an application called FlexiSPY to spy, for political or economic purposes, on other Romanian citizens. While these kinds of spying tools are not new, smartphones give these tools a new platform to collect information that is much more personal than what they have been able to collect before. Personal location, calls, sms messages, even live conversations can all be tracked by this kind of “surveillance-ware” application. We have seen an increasing number of these applications in market and often our users don’t know how these applications were placed on their phones.

In order to install this kind of application, someone needs to have access to your phone. So in terms of preventative measures, keep an eye on your phone, use a password and install some protection to catch such applications if they do make it on to your phone.