There is a striking generational difference among Australians’ cyber stalking tendencies in modern day relationships, according to a research by NortonLifeLock.

The study examined consumers’ online creeping behaviours, which is defined as following someone persistently online.

One half (49%) of gen Z and millennials aged 18-39 who have been in a romantic relationship admit to stalking an ex or current partner online by checking in on them without their knowledge or consent (vs. 24% of older adults).

Almost 2 in 5 Aussies aged 18-39 (38%) believe it is acceptable to cyberstalk if they are checking in on their partner’s physical or mental well-being.

Of these younger Australians who currently have a romantic partner, 30% believe their significant other is somewhat likely to download or has already downloaded apps known as creepware or stalkerware onto their devices to monitor activity such as text messages, phone calls, direct messages, emails, and photos.

This is a stark contrast compared to only 21% of Australians aged 40 or older.

The findings are published as a special addendum to the 2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report (NCSIR), NortonLifeLock’s flagship consumer survey that examines the impact of cybercrime and consumers’ online behaviours and concerns related to their online security, privacy, and identity.

The report was conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll and surveyed more than 10,000 people in ten countries, including 1,005 adults in Australia, to assess consumers' online habits and where they may be slipping into cyberstalking.

NortonLifeLock senior director Asia Pacific Japan Mark Gorrie says there is a perception that cyberstalking is more out of sight, out of mind. “30% of young Australians saying they don’t care if they are being stalked online by a current or former partner as long as it’s not in person,” he remarks.

“While the uptake of downloading creepware apps to your partner’s devices is relatively low, the acceptance or belief that cyberstalking our current or ex-partners is relatively harmless, especially among younger Australians in concerning,” Gorrie notes.

The results show 22% of Australians believe it is harmless to stalk a current or former partner online, with more younger Australians agreeing with this statement (29% vs 18% aged over 40).

Gorrie attributes the normalisation of cyberstalking to TV shows and pop culture. “It’s concerning to think that these dramatisations may be influencing dating standards in modern day romance,” says Gorrie.

Younger Australians are twice as likely than those 40 or older to agree online stalking is okay if one or both partners have cheated or are suspected of cheating (36% vs. 17%) and admit they would be more likely to stalk a lover or an ex online if they knew they would not get caught (34% vs. 17%).

Of note, very few Australians who have been in a romantic relationship acknowledge to using an app to track a partner’s physical activity (9%).

Additional findings from the 2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Special Releasez – Online Creeping include:

Texts, calls, and photos the most common pieces of data tracked by current or former partners. The most common forms of stalking are checking their partner’s phone to view text messages, phone calls, direct messages, emails or photos (16%), reviewed their search history on one of their devices (15%) or used their knowledge of their partner’s password to access their devices or online accounts (13%).

Most common reason for checking on current of former partners is curiosity. Among those who have checked in on a current or former partner, curiosity (41%), wanting to know who their former partner was (35%), and wanting to make sure their partner was safe (35%) are the top factors that drove them to do it. Close to a quarter (23%) say they found out their partner was checking in on them, so they decided to do the same.

Across the globe, cyber stalking is not unusual. 34% of respondents who have been in a romantic relationship admit to checking on a former or current partner online without their knowledge or consent, including more than a third of Australians (34%) who confessed to partaking in this behaviour.

If you think you may have stalkerware or creepware installed on your device, Gorrie shares some tips to help you how to find and remove it and protect yourself moving forward.

To install stalkerware or creepware, access to the device is needed. To help protect yourself, ensure you have 2FA (2-Factor Authentication) or biometric login enabled so more than just a password is needed.

In some cases, creepware can be installed remotely on your device through a link. Beware of files or programs from third party sources. Illegal downloads or freeware from untrusted sources can sometimes be used by hackers to infect your devices with malware.

To help ensure you do not have creepware or stalkware installed on your device, it is important to fully inspect all apps on your devices and review the permissions to functions such as location, calls and texts, camera and microphone and image gallery. If there is not a clear function to that app needing that permission, you should properly review and delete if necessary.

Only download apps from trusted and verified sourced such as the Apple App store, Google Play or Windows store. Apps here undergo more rigorous testing to be approved. An extra level of security is installing security software that scans an app for any suspicious activity. Norton 360 includes mobile app scanning to help give peace of mind for every app download.