Using tracking apps on cellphones can be susceptible to spyware and make its contents accessible to a stalker and even to the public.
Cyber security expert Alex Liu sits at a conference table at UC San Diego and sends a text from one smartphone to another that had an app called Mobile Tracker Free. The text is sent and received and appears on a web portal in Liu’s laptop.
“They’ve tried their best to eliminate their public persona online. And yet they’re still finding out that their former partner or current partner ... is still able to follow them, know who ... they’re dating, their new job and they’re just wondering why,” McCarthy said.McCarthy added that people helping stalking or domestic violence victims often discover spyware by asking the victim to look for apps on their phone they don’t remember downloading.
“If the app itself is hacked, the problem becomes much bigger ... can be exposed to the public. Right? I’m pretty sure you don’t want whatever is on your phone to be leaked to the public,” Liu said.In this undated photo, Alex Liu stands next to UC San Diego's science and engineering building. Liu is a computer science PhD student who specializes in cyber security. Undated photographThere are many apps that can track another person’s smartphone, such as Life360 and Find My Friends.
“Usually would say you need the other person’s consent. You click a button saying ‘Yes, I understand that by using this app I would acquire consent from the other party.’ But in reality it’s not enforced,” Liu said.
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