Israeli Firm's Ad Network Used to Deliver 'Zero-Click' Spyware, Researchers Say
Israeli firm's digital ads enabling installation of 'zero-click' spyware
Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto says Discover-Tech's Controlium platform turns programmatic ads into a spyware delivery pipeline: a benign-looking ad harvests a target's identity and IP address, then mercenary spyware is pushed to the device in seconds with no click required. Millions of users worldwide have been served these ads since 2024, and dozens of devices at Al Jazeera are believed compromised. The researchers call the online ad ecosystem a security threat to states, companies, and civil society alike.
The way the online advertising ecosystem works today is a security threat for states, the private sector, civil society and everyone else alike.
- Ozzie_osman
Obviously not the first time an Israeli tech firm is responsible for these types of exploits, and at this point I'd go so far as saying that any Israeli-based tech company (especially cyber security ones, of which they have a strong industry) should be considered beholden to the government of Israel and hence, probably not trustworthy. How could you be sure whether they will act like a trustworthy independent entity, or compromise your data for the benefit of the state?
- ferguess_k
My question is, why is Israel so good at this? It seems to be at least the 4th cyber power of the world, after the US, Russia and China, if not actually on par or better.
I guess it is because it has been under the threat of larger enemies from its birth, so it must leverage whatever it has to survive. And once you grow an organization and let it loose, you don't have much control over it anymore, and it grows in the wild like a flower.
- throw0101c
Actual report from Citizen Lab:
* https://citizenlab.ca/research/how-discover-tech-turned-targ...
- karim79
Y'all will be shocked at how much of the VPN space is owned/controlled by Israel.
- squidmaster
Israel has been a nexus of cybercrime for as long as they've been on the internet at all.
- bhouston
It is standard that companies within a country act in the interests of its security services. Israel has a lot of ad-tech companies and thus it makes sense that they are roped into serving Israel's security services.
It is no different that Israel's location tracking of StarLink terminals worldwide: https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-tech-firms-can-locate-an...
This is the same issue that the US government has with Chinese networking companies, it is too easy for the Chinese government to pressure these Chinese networking companies to put in back doors in the interests of national security. The US likely knows this because it pressures its own companies in similar ways.
- andunie
Turns out Google killing Android privacy was completely useless as a way to prevent people from being hacked, but they might use this type of stuff to justify even more closing of supposedly "free" paltforms.
Likewise, using privacy messengers like Signal is also useless if they can just take control of your entire device anytime they want.
- tintor
Very strong reason for everyone to install ad-blockers on all of their devices.
- schleck8
This is even crazier than the last time Citizen Lab found an Israeli zero-click spyware (Pegasus). You could call it a sequel
- slowin
It's really sad this got taken off the front page (347 points, posted 2 hours ago at the time of this comment). Israel is deeply intertwined with the tech industry and they use tech extensively in extremely hostile ways. It's relevant to this site discussion and the votes demonstrate that. There's no reason to hide the elephant in the room, let's address it, now is the time.