Researchers say Discover-Tech ads may track Starlink users
Original title: Ads or Surveillance? Researchers Flag Suspicious Targeting of Starlink Users
TrendAI says codename SHADOW-EARTH-79 won about 13% of observed Starlink ad bids and was the top bidder in 105 countries.
TrendAI, a Trend Micro unit, concluded that an Israeli ad-tech firm, Discover-Tech, was among the largest buyers of ads shown to SpaceX Starlink users and that the ads were likely used to geolocate or surveil them, according to six people cited by Reuters. TrendAI’s October 15 report did not name the firm; it used the codename SHADOW-EARTH-79 and said with moderate-to-high confidence the activity looked like targeting and tracking rather than ordinary advertising. Citizen Lab and Confiant separately named Discover-Tech the same day. SpaceX and Discover-Tech did not comment. Google and Comcast said they removed Discover-Tech from their ad platforms.
Unconfirmed: Linking SHADOW-EARTH-79 to Discover-Tech rests on unnamed sources; TrendAI did not publish that name, and neither SpaceX nor Discover-Tech responded.
- SHADOW-EARTH-79 was the second-largest winning bidder by raw volume in observed Starlink traffic.
- It was the top bidder in 105 countries and about five times the average bid share.
- TrendAI said Starlink is widely used where terrestrial networks are degraded, including conflict zones.
- Six sources told Reuters that SHADOW-EARTH-79 is TrendAI’s codename for Discover-Tech.
- At least one US tech company and one international organization opened internal inquiries, sources said.
Impact: Possible geolocation and tracking of Starlink users via ad bids
- 1.Check whether Discover-Tech or SHADOW-EARTH-79 ads reached sensitive networks or employees.
- Vendors
- SpaceX
- Products
- Starlink
- Threat actors
- Discover-Tech
- Organizations
- TrendAITrend MicroCitizen LabConfiantGoogleComcast
- Countries
- Israel
From the original article
5 min read at securityaffairs.com
Discover-Tech allegedly targeted Starlink users with digital ads to track their locations, according to sources cited in a new Reuters report. Digital defense firm TrendAI found that an Israeli ad tech company was heavily targeting users of satellite internet service Starlink, probably to spy on them. That’s according to six people familiar with the matter, […]
By Pierluigi Paganini · securityaffairs.com
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