An Israeli digital advertising agency used a vast network of online advertisements to track internet users and help deploy spyware, according to reports published on Thursday by two research groups. Discover-Tech allegedly gave Israeli spyware company Candiru and other surveillance firms access to advertising platforms operated by Google, Comcast, Russia’s Yandex and other companies. The findings came from Citizen Lab, a Canadian cybersecurity research group, and Confiant, a New York-based advertising security firm. The reports highlight how the online advertising industry, already facing concerns over privacy, can also provide a channel for large-scale surveillance and espionage. “The way online advertising works today is a systemic security threat,” Wolfie Christl, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, told Reuters. He said the risks affected governments, private companies, civil society and internet users more broadly. According to Citizen Lab, Discover-Tech’s advertisements appeared across more than 120,000 websites and 75,000 apps through its various partnerships. Many promoted ordinary consumer products, including mobile phones and earbuds. Researchers said the advertisements could identify and track people when they loaded on websites or within apps. In some cases, the agency also attempted to extract phone numbers from smartphone users. Both research groups said some advertisements helped deliver Candiru spyware to targeted devices. Confiant, however, said the advertisements it linked to Candiru represented only a small fraction of Discover-Tech’s overall advertising activity. US Dollar Currency heads for first weekly fall in five weeks as AI concerns mount Millions of advertisements distributed worldwide Confiant co-founder Jerome Dangu said Discover-Tech distributed at least 10 million advertisements daily around the world. Data-sharing arrangements known as cookie matching also allowed the company to track people beyond the immediate reach of its advertisements, he said. Dangu estimated that the network may have reached hundreds of millions of people. Founded in 2020, Discover-Tech did not respond to messages sent through its website’s contact form. Its chief executive, Dekel Boni, also did not respond to messages sent through LinkedIn or email. Reuters said attempts to contact Candiru’s owners were unsuccessful. The US Commerce Department placed Candiru on its blacklist in 2021, alleging that the company supplied spyware used to target government officials, journalists, activists and academics. Citizen Lab said it had evidence that powerful Candiru spyware, delivered through Discover-Tech advertisements, compromised 45 Windows devices at Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera between 2024 and 2025. The group said it confirmed the attacks after Al Jazeera shared network logs with its researchers. In a statement, Al Jazeera condemned spyware attacks targeting some of its staff and said it was taking steps to protect employees and its systems. The broadcaster added that those responsible should be held accountable. Sensitive organisations among potential targets Dangu said malicious advertisements had appeared across hundreds of networks in sensitive categories, including those associated with the Pentagon, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Criminal Court. He also said Discover-Tech advertisements were particularly widespread in the Palestinian territories, potentially giving the company extensive visibility into online activity across the region. Citizen Lab reported similar evidence of advertisements appearing on networks associated with the United Nations, NATO, the European Commission and more than a dozen national governments. The advertisements also appeared within networks linked to major semiconductor companies, including Nvidia, SanDisk, Broadcom and Micron. Several media organisations in Mexico, Israel and Europe were also affected, although the researchers did not identify them. Citizen Lab said it uncovered further details about Discover-Tech’s operations after the company inadvertently exposed authentication logs online. The records showed logins from internet protocol addresses in Israel, Europe and the Gulf, providing clues about where its users might be based. Advertising platforms take action Discover-Tech has since faced restrictions across parts of the online advertising industry. Google said it had worked with Citizen Lab and Confiant during the investigation and removed Discover-Tech from its advertising platforms for systematically violating its policies. IAB Europe, an association representing the digital marketing and advertising industry, said it suspended Discover-Tech from its list of globally approved vendors the previous week after an audit identified policy violations. Comcast said its advertising technology subsidiary, Beeswax, had also removed Discover-Tech from its platform following recent activity. Yandex did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The findings come amid growing concern that advertising technology and commercial data collection can create national security risks. Earlier this year, the Pentagon said it had received reports that US forces deployed in conflict zones had been targeted using location data collected by advertising technology companies and data brokers. Some branches of the US military have since disabled advertising tracking on certain devices. Post navigation Türkiye Social Media Ban Under-15s face restrictions from November 1
