Spyware maker LetMeSpy shuts down after hacker deletes server data | TechCrunch
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A June data breach wiped out the spyware maker's servers, including its huge trove of data stolen from thousands of victims' phones.
  • Nightwatch Admin@feddit.nlEnglish
    76·
    1 year ago

    Nice, another bunch of assholes out of business. Just one question: why the fk did they not have backups? They weren’t just wee little hateful bastards but stoopid on top too?

    • Unforeseen@lemmy.worldEnglish
      42·
      1 year ago

      As someone who deals with this sort of thing, for ransomware and other destructive intrusions, the first thing they go for is the backups themselves.

      Companies that have an second backup copy that is seperate somehow so non-lateral movement isn’t possible are the ones that survive this level of breach.

      Or they could just be stupid (cheap) and didn’t have any lol

      • 50gp@kbin.social
        13·
        1 year ago

        well they dealt in malware, perhaps they wanted the evidence to be easy to delete in case law enforcement decided to visit

      • 1984@lemmy.todayEnglish
        51·
        1 year ago

        Often the server needs access to make backups, so when you get in and get root, you sometimes also have access to delete the backups.

        It depends on how it’s set up. If the server pushes the backups somewhere else and has write access, then the hacker can delete them. But if another account logs in to the server and makes a backup and downloads it, it’s impossible for the hacker to access the backup.

        Depends on if you planned for the scenario or not.

        • evatronic@lemm.eeEnglish
          8·
          1 year ago

          Part of a good backup solution involves ensuring that it’s literally impossible for the “root” / “administrator” whatever user on the production system to delete the backups. For instance, were this AWS, it would be done by creating a separate AWS account and use IAM roles to provide access to a S3 bucket with the “DeleteObject” permission explicitly denied. Perhaps, even deny everything except something like PutObject, and ensure the target S3 bucket is versioned, so even overwriting the contents with garbage is recovered by restoring a previous version.

          But most businesses don’t think like that.

          • 1984@lemmy.todayEnglish
            41·
            1 year ago

            Yup. I work as a devops guy with aws and that’s what I do. But I’ve seen a lot of enterprises having no clue about these things.

      • Nightwatch Admin@feddit.nlEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        I go for stupid &cheap, most people think backups is when onedrive and Microsoft reinforces that insane idea with popups).

  • scytale@lemmy.worldEnglish
    64·
    1 year ago

    How are these companies able to operate in broad daylight in the EU of all places? I mean the name itself is saying out loud what they do.

    • AndrewZabar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      30·
      1 year ago

      All law enforcement and regulatory bodies have their plates full non-stop in this Wild West world we live in now. At any moment for every criminal that’s caught a hundred get away with something.

      • Slowy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        19·
        1 year ago

        No its more for secretly spying on a partner you suspect of cheating or child’s phone activity. I think you need to get ahold of the device in question and have it unlocked to install this. Still very unethical obviously

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    432·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Poland-based spyware LetMeSpy is no longer operational and said it will shut down after a June data breach wiped out its servers, including its huge trove of data stolen from thousands of victims’ phones.

    In a notice on its website in both English and Polish, LetMeSpy confirmed the “permanent shutdown” of the spyware service and that it would cease operations by the end of August.

    A separate notice on LetMeSpy’s former login page, which no longer functions, confirmed earlier reports that the hacker who breached the spyware operation also deleted the data on its servers.

    A copy of the database was obtained by nonprofit transparency collective DDoSecrets, which indexes leaked datasets in the public interest, and shared with TechCrunch for analysis.

    The database also contained information that shows the spyware was developed by a Krakow-based tech company called Radeal, whose chief executive Rafal Lidwin did not respond to a request for comment.

    Spytrac, a spyware with more than a million user records in its database, was confirmed to be operated by Support King, a tech company banned from the surveillance industry by federal regulators in 2021 for previously failing to secure stolen data from its then-flagship spyware app, SpyFone.

    I’m a bot and I’m open source!