Hackers hack LetMeSpy, a phone tracking spyware that spied on thousands

LetMeSpy, a spyware used to discreetly monitor a phone's data and location has been hacked, say media reports. The hackers have reportedly hacked the servers of LetMeSpy and deleted the data of thousands of users.

The phone monitoring app said on its login page on June 21 that “a security incident occurred involving obtaining unauthorized access to the data of website users​​”.

“As a result of the attack, the criminals gained access to e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and the content of messages collected on accounts,” the notice read.

What is this app?

LetMeSpy is an app that markets itself as a way to enhance parental control or employee monitoring. Once installed on a smartphone, it discreetly uploads SMS messages, call logs and loaction information to its servers.

The app is reportedly often used by spouses and has been described in media reports as 'stalkerware'. The app is usually 'planted' on a phone and the information it collects on the person that's subject to spying can be accessed by the person who has planted the spyware. The information uploaded by LetMeSpy also enables the planter to spy on another person in real-time.

However, it has been reported that these apps are often buggy. For all the spying that they do, their own defence mechanism isn't as robust, said reports. This enables hackers to attempt to break in an steal/ delete data.

The hacking of LetMeSpy was first reported by Polish security research blog Niebezpiecznik.

The blog reportedly attempted to contact LetMeSpy but instead of a reply from the app, was contacted by the hackers. They claimed that they had access to wide domain of the app.

As per reports, it is not yet clear who is behind the hacking attack. The hackers have said that they have deleted data stored on LetMySpy servers

TechCrunch has reported that a copy of the hacked LetMeSpy data was sent to it by DDoSecrets, which is a nono-profit that indexes leaked datasets for public interest.

TechCrunch has reported that the dataset contains years of call logs of the victims and text messages dating back to 2013.

The database with the news outlet had records of at least 12,000 devices that were compromised. The data also has over 13,400 location data points for several thousand victims.

That's not all, the data reportedly also contains information about 26,000 customers who used the spyware for free in addition to customers who bought subscriptions.

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