This is indicated by a recent survey. Furthermore, 46% of them faced them.
Jealousy, infidelity and technology, ingredients that it is better not to combine. This is clear from a recent survey conducted among 1,000 Argentines.
In concrete figures, 44% of Argentines in a relationship (43% men vs. 44% women) you suspect that your partner has accessed your phone and another 24% he is not sure (24% men vs. 24% women).
Furthermore, less than half (44% men vs. 48% women) of Argentines who discovered that their partner had violated their privacy confronted them.
“Going through someone’s phone without their permission is not acceptable regardless of the relationship status,” said Javier Rincón, Regional Director in Latam for Avast, the cybersecurity company that released the survey.
How do they know they are being spied on?
“The results of our survey show that people realized that their partner has manipulated their cell phone when noticing that the settings have been altered, that something is different, that their partner knew their private information shared by messages or calls or, finding an app that they had not installed on their cell phones. These are all red flags and there may be stalkerware apps included as well,” she adds.
“We should not give our boyfriends password data that allows them to enter to see our emails and networks because it is a way of ending our privacy, that is something we must protect, we should not ask for reciprocity either because that gives them rights and is an important sign of possible violence”, comments Mabel Bianco, from the Foundation for the Study and Research of Women (FEIM).
Of those surveyed who suspect their partner has had access to their phone without their consent, 39% said their partner confessed to the act, 29% caught their partner “red-handed,” and 15% said their partner he knew things that they had shared privately through his phone. Of those who confronted their partner after discovering their mobile device had been accessed, most discussed the incident and agreed not to let it happen again, without permission. About a quarter of those surveyed (22%) stated that the incident led to verbal abuse.
Many prefer not to confront
Of those who chose not to face their partners, 31% wanted to see if it was a one-time incident, and 11% were afraid of an argument.
“If you discover this, what you have to do is change keys and then you see how you bring up the fact with your partner, because the fact that he has done it without telling you is more serious and a greater indication that he wants to spy on you and that is not a normal fact, nor does it imply that he loves you more as it is sometimes painted says White.
signs and prevention
Among the signs of the presence of stalkerware on a mobile device isl Sudden and unexpected deterioration in device performance. More frequent slowdowns or freezes can be caused by stalkerware.
Settings changed without consent, for example a new browser home page, new icons on the phone, a different default search engine, or other changes not made by the device owner, may be due to stalkerware.
Receiving strange messages, such as a sudden onslaught of pop-up windows or error messages from programs that always worked fine before, can also indicate spyware.
People who believe there is a risk from stalkerware should protect their phone from unauthorized physical access and secure their phone or device using two-factor authentication, such as an access pin and a second form of identity confirmation such as a backup email or fingerprint. Furthermore, a reliable antivirus product for mobile phones will treat stalkerware as a PUP, a potentially unwanted program, and offer users the option to remove it.
SL
