Tech traps domestic abuse victims
From stalkerware to smart home speakers, tech can be an enabler for domestic abusers, discovers Stewart Mitchell.
Euleen Hope managed to escape a tech ech abuse situation, tuation, but she e knows how difficult ult it is to break free, ee, especially when other forms orms of domestic bullying are taking place. Hope eventually sought help from the charity Refuge ( but it was an uphill battle.
“My ex-partner set up my email and social media accounts for me,” said Hope.
“He also replaced my phone with an iPhone, which he mirrored onto his iPad to monitor calls and messages. a person only with technology to reach the outside world. When that’s taken away, it can make it much harder for them to escape or find comfort.”
The longer tech abuse goes on – especially when the perpetrator has local access – the more difficult it is to make a clean break, meaning homes must be swept to prevent the abuse continuing even after an abuser or victim has left.
“We’ve seen cases where the abuser has left devices on the network specifically to enable access later on,” said Cox. “Sometimes, the abuser is more technically adept and spends time compromising devices and networks so they can continue the abuse after they are cut off and some Internet of Things (IoT) devices can give information like whether the home is occupied, which can put the person at physical risk.”
Researchers from University College London (UCL) have highlighted multiple scenarios where tech can be used for abuse, from wearable devices, which allow perpetrators to track and monitor movements, to security cameras and audio recording devices.
According to Cox, when he or fellow volunteers have been into homes to secure networks or once a survivor has escaped, the abuser will still try to use the tools they have left to re-infiltrate networks, something that can be their undoing.
“They rely on the idea that no one will be looking too closely – and especially that someone qualified won’t be helping,” Cox said. “We’ve seen so many different ways they try to re-attack their victims, so they get discovered fairly quickly. As an additional bonus, the more sophisticated attacks often end up falling into ‘very illegal’ territory, which helps get law enforcement engaged.”
Abusers, stalkers and other bad actors are going to use any tool they can to control and abuse their victim
“He set up a location tracker, saying it would help me. You wouldn’t think he was doing anything bad, but I didn’t realise it was going to be part of my entrapment.”
In the end, it was his use of tech that alerted Hope to his overbearing control when she caught him spying on her at home. “He installed cameras around the house, saying it was for my security,” she said. “My sister came round to visit. Normally, if people came over he would sit in the room with us, but this time he said he would leave us to catch up and use his computer upstairs. I moved behind the camera and told my sister to keep talking, I went up the stairs and saw him listening to what he thought was our conversation.”
Hope’s partner was eventually sentenced for assault and grievous bodily harm.
The dangers of sharing
Of course, not all tech abuse stems from complex techniques, and instead relies on the way that many newer devices are set up as communal rather than private tools. “The common abuser-perpetrator is more like a UI-bound adversary,” said Leonie Tanczer, a UCL lecturer in security and emerging technologies. “So a perpetrator doesn’t go to the lengths of writing malware code and installing it – instead, they are using the features that are already available and easily accessible for them to abuse.