VietNamNet Bridge – Spyware has been around for years, if not decades. Software that secretly logs your spouse’s keystrokes, monitors employees’ activities at work, or plunders your contacts and accounts, sits quietly on millions of PCs around the world.
Now spyware is entering a new domain – the smartphone. And judging by its brisk sales despite the steep prices, it seems to be a big hit with Vietnamese
The software offerings can be found everywhere in Vietnam, from flea markets to online stores, and from mobile shops to traditional street markets, where high-technology product stalls sit side-by-side with vegetable and fish sauce kiosks.
The software vendors claim that the products they sell are “very high-tech”, “useful” and suitable to different smartphone’s operating systems, including Symbian, Android and IOS.
They explained that once a target smartphone is installed with the spyware, the user of the phonecan be monitored from any distance. The software can be configured remotely to turn on the camera, record sounds, collect messages and record two-way calls. Collected data is then sent to the spy – that is, the installer of the software – via email.
When asked why he sells software that abets illegal acts, a vendor claimed innocence, saying that the eavesdropping software is a “wonderful high-technology product” which provides more “utility” to users. Buyers interviewed, meanwhile, tended to claim that they have legitimate and reasonable purposes to use the software.
A representative of Anh Duc Company, at anhducmobi.com, which introduced itself on the web as a big supplier of supervision software, tried to persuade customers that the software is easy to install and convenient to use.“We can provide a video clip that guides the installation. But if you cannot do this, you can call us,” he said.
“The software must be installed manually. It just takes you two minutes,” he added. After that, the owners of the smartphones cannot discover the bugs.
Local newspapers some days ago reported that Viet Hong Company Ltd had been discovered as illegally distributing eavesdropping software. Inspectors found that, in order to use the features of the software, the buyer needs to start the software by activating the “call” feature of the phones and enter codes provided by Viet Hong.
An information technology expert said that it takes only 3-5 minutes to install Ptracker software, depending on the internet transmission speed. Thereafter, mobile devices’ owners may not discover that their phones have “intruders”, if they accidentally leave their phones elsewhere just for several minutes.
The expert said there is different spyware available for different smartphone operating systems. Android-based smartphonesare the easiest to install the software on.
The software products, advertised as imported, are very expensive, with the prices of between VND3 million and VND10 million. In most cases, you purchase a contract for a set period of time. Prices vary depending on length of the contract, generally yearly or quarterly.
“You have to pay VND2.5 million for a 3-month use of the software for Android-based mobile devices,” a worker at spyphonevn.com said.
Anh Duc charges VND6-10 million for one-year use, while buyers would have to pay VND6 million if they need the software for three months.
When asked about the big gap in the prices, a worker of Anh Duc said there are a wide range of products which has different price levels.
“There are the software pieces that consume much battery and transmit data very slowly. Meanwhile, the software sourced from the US or India can operate excellently,” he said.
PL TPHCM