Israeli ad company helped a spyware firm target Al Jazeera through online ads, researchers say
Citizen Lab said the ads reached more than 120,000 websites and 75,000 apps, and Google, IAB Europe and Beeswax cut off Discover-Tech.
- On Thursday, Canadian cyber watchdog group Citizen Lab and New York advertising security firm Confiant reported that Israeli digital advertising agency Discover-Tech spied on internet users through online ads to facilitate hacking and deliver spyware to their devices.
- Discover-Tech secretly operated a program called Controlium that allowed mercenary spyware companies like Candiru to inject malicious code onto visitors' devices; the firm's ads covertly directed millions of devices to contact Candiru's servers.
- Researchers found Discover-Tech pumped out at least 10 million ads daily, reaching over 120,000 websites and 70,000 apps between March and June. No-click spyware compromised 45 Windows devices at Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera in 2024 and 2025.
- Google and IAB Europe suspended Discover-Tech last week for violating policies, while Comcast ad tech subsidiary Beeswax removed the firm 'following recent activity.' Five ad vendors and industry organizations disconnected the platform from their services.
- Calling the current advertising ecosystem 'a systemic security threat,' Citizen Lab senior researcher Wolfie Cristl urged regulators to investigate involved companies and fix systemic risks that enable malicious ad targeting.
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An Israeli firm is sending spyware through online ads, researchers say
An Israeli ad tech firm worked with spyware companies to infect devices, including at Al Jazeera, by simply showing users an online ad, according to a joint investigation by security researchers at Citizen Lab and Confiant. It's the first time researchers have found technical evidence of a zero-click attack - a form of hacking that requires no action by users - delivered through targeted advertising, as reported earlier by NBC News. The ad firm,…
Israeli firm used online ads to run vast spy operation, researchers say
Israeli digital advertising agency Discover-Tech spied on internet users through a sprawling network of online ads that it used to track targets and help hack their devices, two research groups said on Thursday.
Discover-Tech’s infected ads were displayed on more than 120,000 websites and 75,000 apps. Palestinians and the European Commission on the list of possible surveillance targets. The post Israeli advertising company planted surveillance software on the Internet – “Hundreds of millions of users” were exposed to viruses appeared first on in.gr.
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