Case of Spyware Spread Through Online Advertising Discovered

Citizen Lab researchers have discovered the first case of spyware being spread through targeted online advertising, where users do not need to click or download anything for the malicious code to infect their devices after the ad loads. This operation, named "AdFection," targeted at least 45 Al Jazeera devices between 2024 and 2025, involving the Israeli advertising company Discover-Tech and the spyware vendor Candiru. Researchers analyzed approximately 4 billion ad bidding records and found that Discover-Tech's ads appeared on nearly 200,000 websites and applications worldwide, but ad exposure does not necessarily lead to infection. Discover-Tech previously operated through major ad networks, including Google, and has been removed following the investigation.

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