The Hanoi police on June 28 started legal proceedings against Viet Hong
Company for selling spy software, affecting more than 14,000 mobile
subscribers.
The police also detained four staff of
the company on the charge of “illegally using information in computer
networks” under Article 226 of the Penal Code.
According to
the Hanoi Police’s hi-tech crimes division (PC50), Viet Hong Company,
based in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan District and headed by Nguyen Viet Hung and
Dang Hong Dang, has developed and sold two types of spy mobile software –
the Ptracker app for individuals and PtrackerERP app for businesses –
since June 2013.
The apps allow users to track other
people’s Android phones, read their SMS messages and contact books and
record their phone calls without their knowledge.
The app can even turn on features like camera, 3G or GPRS connections of the target devices from the tracker phone.
The stolen information was archived on Viet Hong’s servers and
accessed by using a paid account to log in to the company’s website.
Colonel Le Hong Son, PC50 chief said since Viet Hong launched the app,
it has provided Ptracker to 14,140 subscribers to earn about 900
million VND (43,000 USD).
Currently, 7,447 subscribers
to the illegal service are still registered in the servers of the
company, and about 600 of the accounts are valid, he said.
Initial investigation results showed that Viet Hong company’s actions
of creating and installing of malicious software on digital devices for
the purposes of collecting personal information or taking control of
said devices violated a series of regulations and articles stated in the
Information Technology Law.-VNA