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Amazon is still hosting stalkerware victims' data weeks after breach alert | TechCrunch

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Summary
Nutrition label

71% Informative

Cocospy , Spyic , and Spyzie are three Android apps that share the same source code and a common security bug.

The operations exposed the phone data on a collective 3.1 million people, many of whom are victims with no idea that their devices have been compromised.

As part of our investigation, TechCrunch found that some of the contents of a device compromised by the apps are being uploaded to storage servers run by Amazon Web Services .

Amazon told TechCrunch it was “following [its] process” after our February notice, but as of the time of this article’s publication, the apps continue to upload and store photos.

Cocospy and Spyic apps are identical-looking and nondescript apps named “System Service” that try to evade detection by blending in with Android ’s built-in apps.

TechCrunch used a network traffic analysis tool to inspect the data flowing in and out of the apps.

The spyware apps were uploading some victims’ data, like photos, to their namesake storage buckets hosted on Amazon Web Services .

VR Score

59

Informative language

50

Neutral language

50

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

62

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

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