En tillverkare av stalkerware som tvingades ut ur övervakningsbranschen efter ett dataintrång som avslöjade personlig information om sina kunder och de som den spionerade på kan inte återgå till att sälja påträngande programvara, enligt Federal Trade Commission. FTC nekade till en begäran från Scott Zuckerman, grundare av konsumentspionprogramföretaget Support King och dess dotterbolag SpyFone och OneClickMonitor, om att häva förbudet. …

Zuckerman, who used to run the stalkerware apps SpyFone and SpyTrac, claimed the ban is hurting his unrelated business.

The surveillance industry banned a stalkerware maker after a data breach leaked information of its customers and the people they were spying on. Consumer spyware company Support King can't sell the surveillance software now, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said.  The FTC has denied founder Scott Zuckerman's request to cancel the ban. It is also applicable to other subsidiaries OneClickMonitor and SpyFone. Recently, the FTC announced the move in a press release when Zuckerman petitioned the agency to cancel the ban order in July of 2025.  The FTC banned Zuckerman from “offering, promoting, selling, or advertising any surveillance app, service, or business,” in 2021 and stopped him from running other stalkerware business. Zuckerman had to also delete all the data stored by SpyFone and went through various audits to implement cybersecurity measures for his ventures. Then acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Samuel Levine said that the "stalkerware was hidden from device owners, but was fully exposed to hackers who exploited the company’s slipshod security." Zuckerman in his petition said that the FTC mandate has made it difficult for him to conduct other businesses due to monetary losses, even though Support King is out of business and he now only operates a restaurant and plans other ventures. The ban came from a 2018 incident after a researcher discovered an Amazon S3 bucket of SpyFone that left important data such as selfies, chats, texts, contacts, passwords, logins, and audio recordings exposed online in the open. The leaked data comprised 44,109 email ids. According to Samuel, “SpyFone is a brazen brand name for a surveillance business that helped stalkers steal private information." He further said that the "stalkerware was hidden from device owners, but was fully exposed to hackers who exploited the company’s slipshod security.r According to TechCrunch, after the 2021 order, Zuckerman started running another stalkerware firm. In 2022, TechCrunch found breached data from stalkerware application SpyTrac.  According to the data, freelance developers ran SpyTrac who had direct links with Support King. It was an attempt to escape the FTC ban. Additionally, the breached data contained records from SpyFone, which Support King was supposed to delete. Beside this, the data also contained access keys to the cloud storage of OneClickMonitor, another stalkerware application. 

A stalkerware maker who was banned from the surveillance industry after a data breach that exposed the personal information of its customers, as well as the people they were spying on, will not be able to go back to selling the invasive software, according the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC denied a request to cancel that ban made by Scott Zuckerman, the founder of consumer spyware company Support King and its subsidiaries SpyFone and OneClickMonitor.

米国連邦取引委員会（FTC）は、データ漏洩によって顧客や被害者の個人情報が流出した製作業者スコット・ズッカーマンに対し、監視業界からの禁止措置を解除するリクエストを拒否した。 ズッカーマンは、消費者スパイウェアの企業サポートキングおよび関連会社のSpyFone、OneClickMonitorの創設者で、今年7月に禁止命令の撤回または修正を求めていた。 2021年にFTCは、ズッカーマンに対して「監視アプリやサービスの提供、販売、広告」を禁止し、今後ストーカーウェアビジネスを運営できないようにした。また、SpyFoneが収集したデータの削除や、サイバーセキュリティ対策の確立も求めている。 しかし、ズッカーマンはこれらの要求が他のビジネス運営に経済的負担をかけていると主張している。彼の請願書によると、サポートキングは既に営業を停止し、現在はレストランのみを運営しているという。 FTCの禁止措置は、2018年にSpyFoneのセキュリティ欠陥により、非常に敏感なデータがオンラインに流出したことが発端となっている。この漏洩データには、46,109のユニークな電子メールアドレスや2,208の現在の「顧客」情報が含まれていた。 2021年の禁止命令からわずか1年後、ズッカーマンは再び別のストーカーウェア企業を運営している疑惑が報じられた。専門家は、ズッカーマンが再び禁止命令を破ったことを指摘し、彼が教訓を得ていないと批判している。 ストーカーウェアアプリは、顧客が愛する人のデバイスを密かに監視できるようにするもので、過去8年間に少なくとも26社がデータ漏洩やハッキングの被害にあっている。

A stalkerware maker who was banned from the surveillance industry after a data breach that exposed the personal information of its customers, as well as the people they were spying on, will not be able to go back to selling the invasive software, according the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC denied a request to cancel that ban made by Scott Zuckerman, the founder of consumer spyware company Support King and its subsidiaries SpyFone and OneClickMonitor.  On Monday, the FTC announced the denial in a press release after Zuckerman petitioned…

FTC upholds ban on stalkerware founder Scott Zuckerman A stalkerware maker who was banned from the surveillance industry after a data breach that exposed the personal information of its customers, as well as the people they were spying on, will not be able to go back to selling the invasive software #FTC #ScottZuckerman #software #SupportKing #SpyFone #OneClickMonitor #stalkerware #spyware #hacker https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/08/ftc-upholds-ban-on-stalkerware-founder-scott-zuckerman/

A stalkerware maker who was banned from the surveillance industry after a data breach that exposed the personal information of its customers, as well as the people they were spying on, will not be able to go back to selling the invasive software, according the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC denied a request to cancel that ban made by Scott Zuckerman, the founder of consumer spyware company Support King and its subsidiaries SpyFone and OneClickMonitor.