Israeli ad company helped a spyware firm target Al Jazeera through online ads, researchers say
Researchers say the ads delivered zero-click spyware through major ad networks, reaching at least 45 Al Jazeera devices and millions of others worldwide.
- 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.
205 Articles
205 Articles
Israeli company weaponised online advertising to track millions of devices
Australia's nuclear science agency and other highly sensitive government organisations have been targeted by a sophisticated, foreign bad actor that secretly weaponised online ads to install spyware.
Recent research investigations have revealed that the Israeli Digital Advertisements Company (DIC) has used the Internet advertising system to track users and collect data on their digital activities, and to assist in delivering spy software to targeted devices, in a development that reveals the risks of using commercial advertising techniques for electronic surveillance and penetration.
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Era of LightCitizen Lab Exposes Israeli Spyware Infecting Phones Through Ordinary Ads
Israeli mercenary spyware reached potentially hundreds of millions of devices worldwide through ordinary online advertisements that required no user interaction to deliver their payload, according to research by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab. [1] The findings published Thursday, Oct. 15, said the incident is likely to be the first confirmation of zero-click mercenary spyware delivered through targeted ads [2]. The ads, loaded with the …
Israeli firm exploited online ads to spy on Al Jazeera and Palestinian sites
Citizen Lab says Discover-Tech's ads reached more than 120,000 websites and 75,000 apps, giving Israeli spyware and surveillance firms, including U.S.-blacklisted Candiru, access to advertising platforms
Smartphone security has just entered a very dangerous terrain. A security investigation has revealed a new technique named "AdFection". It is capable of infecting smartphones and PCs through online advertising without requiring any interaction. That is, it ended the time when it was enough not to load on strange links to be safe. In this scheme, [...]
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