Security researchers at the group Security Without Borders (SWB) claim they have found spyware, consisting of two parts they called Exodus One and Exodus Two.
Instances of the spyware have been found Google Play Store, with samples dating back to 2016.
Check out our latest investigation into yet another surveillance software made in Italy called Exodus. https://t.co/gBGCptABcH
— Security w/o Borders (@swborders) March 29, 2019
The spyware is in a form of malicious apps, which are in Italian, that aim to collect, extract and send on the information about a user's device and data.
"This is usually done in order to validate the target of a new infection," SBW reported.
The group suspected that the spyware platform was developed by an Italian company called eSurv, operating in the field of video surveillance.
Exodus is allegedly capable of exposing infected devices to further compromise or data tampering. The mobile apps containing Exodus may stay on Google Play Store for months at a time, and be re-uploaded if removed.
The second stage of Exodus implements most of the data collection and exfiltration capabilities of this spyware, warned SBW.
Security Without Borders is a group started by Italian security researcher Claudio Guarnieri in 2017. They identify as "a collective of hackers and security professionals working towards a stronger and more secure civil society."
