A startup called Farnsworth & Co. has found a niche in the dark overlap between surveillance, malware, and civil litigation. Their product? Personal data stolen from infected computers—now available for purchase by debt collectors, divorce lawyers, and anyone with a grudge and a budget.

The company’s entire business hinges on access to data siphoned off by infostealer malware. This kind of software quietly grabs login credentials, browsing histories, cookies, emails, and contact lists from unsuspecting users. It then bundles the stolen data into searchable profiles. Farnsworth, for its part, packages this information and sells it as “intelligence services.” [Read more…]