"EFF has, for many years, raised the alarm about the proliferation of stalkerware-commercially-available apps designed to be installed covertly on another person's device and exfiltrate data from that device without their knowledge. In particular, we have urged the makers of anti-virus products for Android phones to improve their detection of stalkerware and call it out explicitly to users when it is found."
"In 2020 and 2021, AV Comparatives ran tests to see how well the most popular anti-virus products detected stalkerware from many different vendors. The results were mixed, with some high-scoring companies and others that had alarmingly low detection rates. Since malware detection is an endless game of cat and mouse between anti-virus companies and malware developers, we felt that the time was right to take a more up-to-date snapshot of how well the anti-virus companies are performing."
"Notably, Malwarebytes detected 100% of the stalkerware products we tested for. ESET, Bitdefender, McAfee, and Kaspersky detected all but one sample. This is a marked improvement over the 2021 test, which also found only one app with a 100% detection rate (G Data), but the next-best performing products had detect rates of 80-85%. Google Play Protect and Trend Micro had the lowest detection rates in the 2025 test, at 53% and 59% respectively."
Stalkerware remains a persistent threat on Android devices, prompting tests of popular antivirus products. AV Comparatives measured detection in 2020–2021 and again in 2025 to assess current performance. Detection results in 2025 were mixed: Malwarebytes detected 100% of tested stalkerware, while ESET, Bitdefender, McAfee, and Kaspersky missed only one sample each. Several leading products improved since 2021, but Google Play Protect and Trend Micro showed the lowest detection rates at 53% and 59%. Low Play Protect performance reflects targeted attempts by stalkerware to disable the default protection on many Android phones.
Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]