Following a data leak over the weekend, the creator of the spyware programme pcTattletale announced that his firm is “out of business and completely done.”
The suspension comes only days after a hacker vandalised the spyware maker’s website and revealed links to enormous volumes of data from pcTattletale’s servers, including databases of customer information and some victims’ stolen data.
pcTattletale was remote surveillance software, often referred to as “stalkerware” due to its ability to follow individuals without their knowledge. It allowed the person who planted the programme to remotely examine images of the victim’s Android or Windows device, along with its sensitive data, from any location worldwide. Although PCTattletale advertised its spyware programme as a tool for monitoring employees, it also openly showcased its ability to secretly spy on spouses and domestic partners, a practice that is illegal. 
According to data breach reporting site Have I Been Pwned, 138,000 consumers joined up for the now-defunct app.
The hacker claimed on the defaced website that it was possible to trick PCTattletale’s servers into revealing the secret keys to its Amazon Web Services account, which the spyware creator used to store hundreds of millions of screenshots of the machines it had infected.
The PCTattletale website is currently unavailable.
Bryan Fleming, the founder of pcTattletale, informed Eltrys via text message on Tuesday that he no longer had access to the company’s Amazon Web Services account.
“I deleted everything because the data breach could have exposed my customers,” Fleming said.
Fleming declared, “We have closed the account and deleted the servers.”
According to a review of the disclosed data, pcTattletale has saved more than 300 million screenshots of victims’ devices on its Amazon S3 storage server throughout the years. Eltrys independently verified that screenshots of PCTattletale-monitored devices were publicly available online.
It seems that Amazon may have taken action against the malware producer. Previously used to save device screenshots, the Amazon S3 storage server pcTattletale now displays “AllAccessDisabled,” an error number Amazon employs to prevent all access to a customer’s account. The customer’s sole option is to contact Amazon “for further assistance.” Fleming, however, refused to answer the issue of whether AWS had taken it down, and AWS representative Grant Milne also declined to comment.
Fleming said that he did not retain a copy of the material and that the corporation erased it without first alerting people whose information was exposed in the data breach. He has ceased responding to our requests.
PCTattletale’s predicament is not exceptional. Spyware applications are frequently problematic, with the potential to leak or spill data. Federal officials have already barred stalkerware companies from the surveillance market due to insufficient security measures.
When contacted about pcTattletale, FTC spokeswoman Juliana Gruenwald Henderson said that the agency does not comment on whether it is examining a specific matter.
Other spyware companies have shut down after similar exposures. In June 2023, LetMeSpy, a Polish spyware developer, shut down due to computer hacking that destroyed its customers’ data, and a New York state probe led to the removal of spyware applications PhoneSpector and Highster.
