Mercenary spyware uses ads to target journalists, governments, and industry actors
Citizen Lab claims that a company called Discover-Tech presents itself as a legitimate advertising business, but in fact purchases ads on behalf of spyware firms, and offers a platform that allows partners to “precisely profile and de-anonymize millions of individuals, fingerprint their devices, and target them with a form of zero-click hacking, where their devices can be automatically infected when an ad is displayed to them.”
No-click advertising malware is extremely unusual and, as Citizen Lab notes, this is the first time they have identified it in the wild. However, more routine malicious advertising is not new. Because of the opacity and automation of the advertising ecosystem, even media organizations have been leveraged to deliver these ads. More commonly, you would have to click on a malicious link and/or download an application onto your device.
Practice the digital equivalent of handwashing. While it is a scary risk, zero-click spyware is relatively rare, and you are far more likely to run into more traditional malware that can be avoided by simply keeping your device up to date and declining to download any software or files you don’t strictly need. Consider also going through your settings to identify software you don’t need and uninstall it.
Block tracking in your browser. As Citizen Lab notes, you can use a browser that supports Global Privacy Control , a set of web specifications designed to inform businesses of a user’s preference not to have their personal data sold to or used by ad trackers. Privacy-focused browser extensions like the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Privacy Badger can also help provide this signal to advertisers and actively block common trackers while you browse the web.
iPhone users: Settings app > Privacy & security > Tracking > Disable Allow apps to request to track
Android users: Settings app > Security & privacy > Privacy controls > Ads > Delete advertising ID
Our team is always ready to assist journalists with digital security concerns. Reach out here , and stay safe and secure out there.
Best, Martin Shelton Deputy Director of Digital Security Freedom of the Press Foundation
The full story
This article is one source in a clustered incident — the cluster page carries the summary, timeline and every other outlet covering it.
