Certo Software

Certo Software Ltd is a British multinational cybersecurity technology company headquartered in Basingstoke, England. The company specializes in consumer mobile security and privacy solutions.

History
Certo Software was founded in the United Kingdom in 2016 by its current CEOs Russell Kent-Payne and Simon Lewis.

The company’s first product, a spyware detection tool called Certo AntiSpy, was released in the same year in response to the increased popularity of commercial spyware and the limited protection options available to iPhone users at the time. The company claims the software was the first ever spyware detection solution for iPhones.

Cybersecurity Research
In 2021 Certo conducted a UK survey into people’s attitudes towards phone snooping and the use of stalkerware. This found that only 31% of people surveyed thought that spying on someone else’s phone was illegal.

In 2022 Certo published research into the advertising strategies used by companies selling phone monitoring software, how this compared to their official brand messaging, and how search engines were facilitating the misuse of such software.

In 2023 the company revealed how Apple’s iTunes Wi-Fi Sync feature was being exploited by spyware providers in order to give cyberstalkers access to data from their victim’s devices.

In 2023 Certo released research exposing how the Phone Link app in Windows 11 could be used to silently spy on messages and notifications from an iPhone via a Bluetooth connection. The company claimed that this method had been actively used to target real iPhone users in domestic tech abuse situations.

Research published by Certo in December 2023 demonstrated how third-party custom keyboards in iOS were being manipulated by cybercriminals, allowing them to secretly record keystrokes on their victim's device.