The PhoneSpy surveillance software, modeled after Pegasus, is reported to have been used to monitor and steal data from people in South Korea.
PhoneSpy is a mobile phone spying software that provides full access to your targets' smartphones. Record audio, video, take photos, steal contacts, SMS messages.
PhoneSpy is sometimes disguised as a supposedly innocent mobile app, sometimes as a yoga app, and sometimes as a streaming service. The downloader has no idea that they are being monitored.
The researchers did not find any malware associated with PhoneSpy in the Google Play Store, so they suspect that the victims may have picked up the software from external sources, possibly through malicious links or pop-ups.
It is reported that PhoneSpy often requests a login to a popular messaging service in South Korea, thus stealing login credentials.
PhoneSpy has only been identified on Android and is supposed to have been used to steal data from people in South Korea. However, experts say that the existence of PhoneSpy alone indicates that Pegasus wasn't the only surveillance platform used by governments or certain circles.
