Stalking in 2025 is terrifying.
Updated: Jan 13
Stalking is probably the toughest thing anyone can experience, yet 5% of Australian's are dealing with cyberstalking every single day. The reality of what stalkers and hackers can do these days is terrifying, and law enforcement are completely dismissive to the needs of over one million Australian's who are dealing with, the most sophisticated and easily accessible crime in the country.
Spend 20 minutes on the dark web and you will discover the reality of stalking. For $400 you can purchase access to another person's phone screen. This sets up criminals to view sensitive bank information, it gives them complete transparency on all private phone, email and message correspondence, private photos and all documents stored on your phone, not to mention the ability to steal passwords to socials, banks etc. Basically, anything you log into your stalker can log into also.
There is 2PA authentication, which is meant to protect us, however, when you receive a code via SMS or via an Authenticator App, its valid for a period of time, usually a few minutes. If the stalker logs into your account at the same time, which is completely possible as they are watching your movements live on your phone screen, they can gain full access without flagging any security alerts. Smart stalkers purchase the same model handset as their victims so that login records only display a single device, and they don't seem suspect.
Unfortunately for victims, it usually takes a while for stalkers to work out tricks like utalising the same device, so the victim is completely aware that the stalking is taking place in the early stages. Then, when the stalker gets smarter, the victim is hyper vigilant to their presence, and every single act is noticeable. Stalkers eventually hack their way into the backend of programs like facebook and google, so they can access information without requiring passwords at all. The problem is, it’s a progression. They tend to start with the basics, then skill up as they stalk on.
For $800, you can purchase unrestricted access to someone's phone. This allows the stalker to gatekeep all correspondence, they can choose who you receive calls from and when. They can create, modify and edit messages, they can catch emails on the server after you hit send and before they are received by the recipient, providing them unlimited time to edit your correspondence before it is received, changing your words, that is, if they allow the email to be received in the first place. They can modify, add and remove contacts, delete memories and upload new ones. For $800 they can do anything they like to your mobile device and all they require is your phone number.
According to Norton, software like Pegasus spyware offers stalkers a simple interface where they can use your device as if they were the owner of it. It was designed by Israeli cyber-intelligence company, NSO Group, to access sensitive information on the devices of terrorists, criminals, and other people identified as potential threats to the interests of the Israeli government. Pegasus spyware can infect an iPhone or Android device without any action from the victim, and it can track phone calls, location, text messages, and emails.
Pegasus spyware infects the victim’s phone through zero-click exploits, meaning the victim doesn’t need to click a link or take any other action to trigger the spyware on their device. Once installed on an Android or iOS device, Pegasus can secretly monitor and collect sensitive data by reading text messages and emails, accessing the microphone and camera, listening in on phone calls, recording passwords using a keylogger, tracking the phone’s location and surveilling app usage.
The information Pegasus collects is then secretly uploaded to NSO Group’s cloud servers for storage and analysis. Originally developed as an intelligence-gathering tool with the aim of preventing terrorist attacks, Pegasus spyware has controversially been used to hack the phones of activists, journalists, and even heads of state.
Pegasus is one of hundreds of platforms used by stalkers. For $800 on the dark web, Pegasus can be activated for a stalker. The variety of TROJAN RAT software available offers these same privileges. There are about 441 different TROJAN RAT platforms available, and they can be downloaded via www.github.com on the clear web and from markets and message boards all over the dark web.
The dark web hackers take a couple of days to action a hack for you once you initially connect with them, but you can usually get them to correspond via Signal or another encrypted private message app pretty quickly. Then, they can turn things around in minutes. You just need a relationship with one of them, and there are thousands, so you can claim hacking superiority.
The stalking tools available are endless. Say you know the area someone is living; you can gain access to all of the phone screens in the area and simply swipe through them until you find the screen of the victim you are after. You keep swiping until something personal jumps out at you, an SMS message, a bank account number, or you can access the cameras as you swipe to check out what the victim is doing in real life. This stuff costs a little bit more, but I’m only talking a couple of thousand dollars, nothing too excessive for a stalker looking to control your life.
Apple is much safer than Android. With Apple phones they can mostly only view your actions on the phone. That said, they can put a password on the phone so you can't use it. The sophisticated stalkers will password lock your Apple phone several times so you have little choice but to go back to Android where they can take full control. The choice, if you want to keep in touch with family and friends, it’s Android, or nothing.
Computers and laptops are a little more expensive for stalkers to access. $1800 - $2000 is the price for full access to your computer. This allows a stalker to do whatever they want. Read all your private documents, delete important information, upload anything their heart desires. They can set you up for a crime or just download your intimate memories and share them around town to ruin your reputation. The dept of this stalking crime is limitless, yet law enforcement struggle to articulate the difference between Wi-Fi and cellular data, so cyber-stalking is Chinese to Victoria Police and there is absolutely no protection available to victims.
Imagine what it feels like to know that someone is watching everything you do on your phone and your computer. We live in an age where its common to clock up 4 hours of screen time every day on a phone. If you use a computer, you can be tracking 8 - 12 hours per day. Then, your phone is in your pocket or beside you when you aren’t using it, and stalkers can be accessing your camera and microphone. This means, you have zero opportunity for privacy, which is a basic human right.
Cameras and microphones in your devices are accessible at the $400 price point. Some dark web hackers charge for this separately but sometimes it comes as a package. This allows the stalker to view everything you are doing as well as listen to all your real-world conversations. Nothing is sacred. If you are religious, even your private conversations with God are susceptible to the ears and eyes of your stalker. We have human rights to privacy, honour and reputation, rights to practice religion in private, rights to freedom of expression and so forth. All of these rights can be decimated by this stalking technology, and nobody seems to give a shit.
Imagine if this technology was adopted by law enforcement. It would is cause companies like Google, Samsung, Motorola and Oppo to shut down on shore operations because they haven’t protected customer privacy. Apple was sued $95Million last week for privacy issues with Suri, so a huge bill will surely be served on the most innovative companies in our country. The cost for Australia would be insurmountable in terms of jobs, innovation and security. Knowing that this stuff is possible for anyone with $400 in their bank account is distressing and alarming. It’s horrendous.
Imagine what it feels like to be a victim of this level of stalking. Imagine what it is like for the 1,467,000 Australians that are trying to navigate the complete annihilation of their human rights at the same time as they attempt to protect whatever private information they have left. It’s distressing, and there are absolutely no protections available. Speaking to law enforcement in Victoria about this is like smashing your head against a brick wall. They tilt their head to the side and recommend you email their cyber-crimes unit. I imagine two fat blokes in their 50’s that struggle to turn their own computers, pondering over any new email they receive. The cybercrimes unit apparently investigate every email but rarely respond as they check things out from a “cyber” perspective. Got to call bullshit on that one.
Then, what options are left. Contacting MP’s may be possible. The thing is, if you try to do something like this there is someone watching you with full access to all your devices. They block you from MP’s social accounts somehow, erasing your correspondence instantly. The victim knows it’s the stalker because there isn’t even a millisecond between the message being sent and the account being blocked. Stalkers will remove posts from socials before anyone can view them and you can’t trust that your email correspondence is being delivered using the words you chose to send off, so writing emails becomes a pointless exercise also. Every avenue for survival is restricted or blocked completely and it’s excruciating for victims. Victims are left feeling like they are being held captive by their stalkers. With so much power over your right to expression it can become frightening to leave the house, victims start to think they are under full blown surveillance and the stalking escalates to become the route of serious mental illness.
These stalkers are frightening people whilst making them seriously ill. The cops will assume you have a mental illness the minute you suggest you are being stalked and hacked so don’t do that in a hurry. Good chance they will ship you off to hospital ahead of checking your phone for malicious software. The problem is, it’s natural to think that you are under surveillance when you have been hacked within an inch of your life. If 10 hours of your day are being viewed by someone, you can feel it. If you can be watched and listened to through the camera and microphone on your phone and computer during the rest of you waken hours, it can be completely overwhelming. Surveillance becomes the only plausible why? For someone to invest this much time and energy into making a victim feel like a captive in their own home seems too “far-fetched”. Unfortunately, that’s what they are doing, and victims are powerless.
The question of why is all too common. Why would someone be doing this to you? The problem is, the question of why simply destabilises the victim and makes them feel inadequate and stupid. The victim can’t know why, that’s the job of law enforcement to figure out. Sadly, the most likely answer to the question of why is that the stalkers are trying to kill the victim and push them to suicide. Any length of time where someone is forced to live without basic human rights is torture. Stalkers have the technology and the ability to torture their victims and law enforcement are so far behind the 8 ball it's going to be years before the 1,467,000 victims of stalking in Australia are granted the basic human rights that are supposed to cover all of us, regardless of religion, race, criminal history, or ethnicity. Basic human rights are being stolen from so many people and it’s time something changes. These stalkers can’t continue to hack through the dignity and self-respect of their victims. Victims are left feeling like captives, and that’s not ok in Iraq, let alone Australia. Stalking in 2025 is terrifying.
Glenn Hall is a former advertising executive turned freelance communications consultant. Glenn has a fresh perspective on topical issues and a unique way of viewing the world. With diverse interests, no topic is out of reach and Glenn will be sure to challenge your thinking.
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