A trojan for catching cheating spouses

Helsinki-based F-Secure alerted PC users today about a new malware application for Symbian phones, called Flexispy.A, that records information about the victim's phone calls and messages. The trojan, written by a company for commercial purposes according to F-Secure, then sends the information to a remote server.

"The company claims that it's a useful tool for catching a cheating spouse. By installing the application on the phone, they can monitor to whom the victim is calling and what SMS messages he or she is sending," F-Secure researchers posted on the company website.

The application self-installs and hides itself from the phone's owner, the company said.

In most countries, such an application is illegal, F-Secure pointed out.

"Not to mention the fact that spying on people's private communication is illegal in most countries around the world. And the fact that all of the information is stored on the FlexiSpy servers puts the company in an interesting light," according to F-Secure.