Amongst other things, stalkerware can enable the perpetrator to track a victim’s location, read their messages, view their photos and videos, eavesdrop on telephone conversations, and see everything typed on the keypad. “Our research shows that almost 54 000 users globally were affected by stalkerware apps in 2020. The fact that these are growing momentum in Africa should be cause for concern. And even though South Africa has not been affected by these attacks yet, it is only a matter of time before mobile users in the country start experiencing the dangers of stalkerware,” he says. Advertisement To help combat this, Kaspersky released the TinyCheck tool designed to find stalkerware without its operator knowing. It has recently been updated to help uncover all types of geo-tracking apps that identify people’s movements using their GPS data.