Poll: 40% of S’poreans Secretly Installed “Stalkerware” on Their Partners’ Phones to Spy on Them

A poll showed that 40% of Singaporeans secretly installed “stalkerware” on their partners’ phones to spy on them.

Shocked? Well, happy (belated) Valentine’s Day indeed.

Here’s everything you need to know about the survey.

Survey Shows that 40% of Singaporeans Secretly Install “Stalkerware” to Spy on Partners

Kaspersky, a Moscow-headquartered cybersecurity and anti-virus provider, recently commissioned a survey on digital abuse.

21,000 respondents from 21 countries, including Singapore, China, France, the US, and Brazil, were surveyed, with 1,000 respondents from each of the 21 countries.

You’ll be surprised to find out what the survey shows — 40% of Singaporeans admitted installing “stalkerware” on their partners’ phones to spy on them.

Huh? “Stalkerware” is simi?

“Stalkerware” is software installed on a person’s phone to spy on their location and activities. The added problem with “stalkerware” is this: people with “stalkerware” installed on their phones usually don’t know they have “stalkerware” installed on their phones, as the software is concealed from the person.

Chances are, if you have “stalkerware” installed by your partner on your phone right now, you probably don’t even realise it.

Approximately 20% of Singaporeans also admitted to tracking their partner’s location.

For instance, tracking your wife’s location so she won’t walk in on you and your mistress (we’re kidding).

Of the 1,000 survey respondents from Singapore, the majority of respondents were aged between 25 and 54, with the other age groups making up approximately 30% of the respondent pool.

Interestingly, most of Singapore’s survey respondents were in a relationship — nearly 90%! The rest were single but had been in a previous relationship.

Wah… Heng forever alone sia. Scary leh.

Nearly Half of Global Respondents had Experienced Digital Abuse

However, Singapore’s “stalkerware” problem is far from the only thing Kapersky’s survey revealed.

It also revealed a much broader, larger-scale problem with digital abuse — nearly half of global respondents, specifically 40% of them, had reported experiencing digital abuse.

No, we don’t mean digital abuse as in dropping your phone in the toilet bowl.

By digital abuse, we mean having your location tracked digitally, having your accounts hacked, or even having “stalkerware” installed on your phone without your consent.

For one, 16% of global respondents had reported being filmed or photographed without their consent.

NUS students, ring a bell? 

11% of global respondents shared that they had been location-tracked, while 9% shared that their email or social media accounts had been hacked.

12% of global respondents had “stalkerware” installed on their devices without consent.

Kaspersky added that 39% of the survey’s male respondents admitted to “bugging” their partners’ devices. 25% of the survey’s female respondents also admitted to doing so.

All we can say is, if a Goody Feed reader’s phone was bugged by their partner, all their partner will ever see is a rapping Blue Cat.

Two in Five People Admitted to “Stalking” a Date’s Social Media Accounts

Singaporeans are no strangers to the line: “Eh, what’s her Instagram ah?”

And neither are others globally — two in five global respondents admitted to “stalking” a date’s social media accounts, with 34% of respondents sharing that it was acceptable to do so.

To be fair, your employer probably checks your TikTok account for anything embarrassing before hiring you.

The problem comes in when you find people concerned about the prospect of being stalked online. 34% of global respondents share this concern, although there are more female than male respondents who share this concern

In response to the survey’s findings, Kaspersky’s principal security researcher, David Emm, shared: “While the blame for these horrific behaviours never lies with stalking victims, unfortunately, there is still a burden upon them to take steps to minimise risks.”

He’s not wrong. For one, if you don’t want your partner to track your location, don’t give your partner your phone password.

More than 90% of global respondents were willing to share passwords that could allow their location to be tracked.

As Mr Emm added: “Just stop and do a quick sense check on any information, passwords, or data [you] share” and “think through how that information could be used in nefarious hands”.