A surveillance firm is now selling a spyware application for Apple’s new slate computer, the iPad. With this software installed, users can secretly track activity including emails sent and received, web sites visited and contacts added to the iPad’s address book. The information is surreptitiously recorded to a log file which is then uploaded to the Web whenever the iPad has an Internet connection. Afterwards, the user doing the spying can review the data from any computer connected to the Web, with no further need to gain physical access the iPad.
Jailbroken Only
Before going any further, it’s important to make one thing clear: this application is not found in Apple’s iTunes App Store nor can it be installed on iPads that have not been jailbroken.
Jailbreaking, the act of hacking the iPad to run unapproved third-party applications, is not something the majority of iPad owners will do. However, power users often jailbreak their Apple mobile devices, a lineup which includes iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches, because doing so allows for more features and functionality. For example, on a jailbroken iPhone, you can turn your device into a Wi-Fi hotspot. You can also enable multitasking by allowing applications to run in the background and you can completely customize the look-and-feel of the device from battery indicators to icons.
The latest software for jailbreaking the iPhone and iPad is also incredibly easy to use – perhaps the easiest to have ever been released thus far. Within minutes, the process is complete and you have full control over your device.
Mobile Spy: Kids, Employees, Spouses be Warned!
With the new spyware software, dubbed “Mobile Spy,” users can track the activities of anyone who owns an iPad once the app is installed on the device where it runs in stealth mode. Although the nature of this software makes its legality sound questionable, the vendor gets around this issue by explaining that it’s ideal for tracking a child’s Internet behavior, just like the numerous applications for Mac and PC that do the same. (Children, it seems, don’t have the right to not be spied on by their parents.)
But software like this won’t just be used as a parental control mechanism, says security researcher Graham Cluley, it will likely be used for more nefarious reasons too, like checking to see if a spouse is cheating or perhaps even criminal purposes.
However, at a price point of $99.97 per year, only the most serious of stalkers will likely install it on victims’ devices. For everyone else, there’s still the old-fashioned method of snooping – checking the web browser’s history or simply reading through someone else’s email.
