The number of people who have commercial sypware, also known as stalkerware, on their mobile phones has increased markedly in the first eight months of the year, rising to 518.223 cases, an increase of 373% over the corresponding period in 2018.

A researcher from Kaspersky Lab says the company found 58.847 users who had a stalkerware application — a commercial version of spyware — installed on their Android phones or tablets in 2018, according to analysis of data collected from those who had Kaspersky anti-virus software running on their devices.

Ahead of its annual Security Analyst Summit which begins in Singapore next Monday, security firm Kaspersky Lab has upgraded its security app for Android so that it will detect common commercial apps that are known to be spying on users.