November 25, 2014

Danish citizen Hammad Akbar pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay a fine of $500,000 for advertising and selling StealthGenie, a spyware application that could remotely monitor calls, texts, videos and other communications on mobile phones without detection. This marks the first-ever criminal conviction concerning the advertisement and sale of a mobile device spyware app. Akbar is the chief executive officer of InvoCode Pvt. Limitedand Cubitium Limited, the companies that advertised and sold StealthGenie online. StealthGenie could be installed on a variety of different brands of mobile phones, including Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android, and Blackberry Limited’s Blackberry. Once installed, it could intercept all conversations and text messages sent using the phone. The app was undetectable by most users and was advertised as being untraceable. DOJ