AdFection: How mercenary spyware invades victims’ devices through targeted advertising
Citizen Lab says Discover-Tech ads delivered Candiru zero-click spyware, infecting Al Jazeera devices.
The Citizen Lab and Confiant disclosed AdFection, a campaign in which Israeli company Discover-Tech used targeted advertising to direct devices to Candiru spyware servers without a click. Researchers linked at least 45 Al Jazeera devices to Candiru infections with high confidence, and said the ads also appeared on networks including the U.S. Department of Defense, NATO, and the IAEA. From March through June, Discover-Tech ads were seen on more than 120,000 websites and 70,000 mobile apps. Google and IAB Europe removed the company from approved vendor lists. A related actor, DARK CARTOGRAPHER, is described as linking advertising IDs to phone numbers by exploiting mobile-carrier flaws.