Israeli ‘ad’ firm helped infect spyware into Al Jazeera devices

DiscoverTech, an Israeli ad company, secretly aided in placing spyware on 45 devices used by the news outlet Al Jazeera, according to a report published by Citizen Lab. The spyware was from Candiru, an Israeli firm blacklisted by the U.S. government for malicious cyber activities. This is the first instance of "zero-click" targeted advertising, where ad platforms unknowingly deliver malware to devices. Additionally, some of DiscoverTech’s advertisements were found in critical networks used by the Pentagon, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Criminal Court. Al Jazeera condemned this attack as an assault on press freedom and called for accountability from those responsible.