Another top spyware mobile app has been shut down
Oospy, the successor to the defunct Spyhide, is dead
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It looks like the second coming of Spyhide was a short-lived one, with the infamousspywarenow truly done and dusted.
As reported byTechCrunch, the spyware’s back-end server, which survived the first shutdown intact (and was the reason why the app was able to continue operating as it has), was taken offline earlier this week by its web host, Hetzner. Apparently, the client violated its terms of service.
“In addition, we have terminated the customer’s server contract in due time,” Christian Fitz, a spokesperson for Hetzner, told TechCrunch.
Spyhide and Oospy
With the back-end now being taken offline, and the website being defunct, it would seem as if the spyware is now well and truly done.
In late July 2023, a cybersecurity researcher and hacktivist discoveredSpyhide- a piece of mobile malware that sends real-time information about contacts, messages, photos, call logs and recordings, and granular location, from the endpoint it’s installed on - to a different device. It is a commercial product developed by an Iranian company. Some people also refer to it as spouseware, as it’s usually untrusting partners that use it, by secretly installing it on their significant other’s device, to keep tabs on what they do. The app stays hidden on the victim’s mobile phone.
Allegedly, it had tens of thousands of customers, sending hundreds of thousands of sensitive data snippets about their wives, husbands, partners, and more. The hacktivists breached the servers and blocked access to the data it was collecting. However, as the app was still installed on tens of thousands of phones, and was communicating with its C2 server, its owners were able to simply rebrand it and move on.
Now, the rebranded app - called Oospy - lost access to its back-end server thanks to Hetzner’s move, effectively terminating the entire operation.
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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.
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