什么是：Stalkerware
Contents
什麼是Stalkerware
Stalkerware是常用術語，表示用於纏擾，即未經授權的人員跟蹤，通常也是秘密的。
跟蹤軟體，配偶軟體，蠕變軟體-有什麼區別
很多時候，術語「纏擾者軟體」與「creepware」和「spouseware」」等詞同義使用。這些概念確實相似，但有一些區別。顧名思義，它是一種用於跟蹤配偶的軟體。蠕變軟體是惡意軟體的一種，它在用戶不知情的情況下秘密安裝在計算機或其他數字設備上。它允許監視用戶活動並遠程控制設備，因此，術語「跟蹤軟體」和「配偶軟體」實際上是同義詞（「欺騙軟體」是跟蹤軟體的特例），並且主要表示軟體的使用方式，而不是其特性和工作方法。接下來，介紹該軟體的安裝和操作方法。
Stalkerware and monitoring software
There are 3 main scenarios for using monitoring software:
- Installing monitoring software on your own devices in order to monitor them; other people who use these devices are informed about such monitoring;
- Installing monitoring software on your own devices in order to monitor them; other people who use these devices are not informed about such monitoring;
- Installing monitoring software on other people's devices in order to monitor them, without knowledge of the devices』 owners.
When it comes to stalkerware, the last option is most often implied — when the stalker, even after gaining short-term physical access to the victim’s device, covertly installs spyware on it, thereby gaining access to information about all future activity on the monitored device, without the victim's knowledge. In most countries (jurisdictions) such use of software is illegal. The term 'stalkerware' itself appeared precisely because of the cases when legal monitoring software was used to track intimate partners and spouses without their knowledge.
Use of the term
The problem with using the term 'stalkerware' is that many experts and journalists, when using it, don’t mean software that was used for illegal / unethical purposes – they mean any software that could even potentially be used in this way. Sometimes any monitoring software is called stalkerware.
For example, the Coalition Against Stalkerware, an association of cybersecurity companies, offers the following definition of the term 'stalkerware': "It is software, made available directly to individuals, that enables a remote user to monitor the activities on another user's device without that user's consent and without explicit, persistent notification to that user in order to intentionally or unintentionally facilitate intimate partner surveillance, harassment, abuse, stalking, and/or violence." So, any monitoring software that can work covertly falls under this definition, no matter what purpose it is used for.
