Researchers publicly confirmed a novel attack technique called AdFection: zero-click mercenary spyware delivered through targeted online advertisements. The investigation shows devices at Al Jazeera were infected with Candiru (rebranded as Integrity Labs) spyware after viewing ads purchased by an Israeli company, Discover-Tech. Discover-Tech’s Controlium platform can de-anonymize and fingerprint individual devices, run JavaScript when an ad is rendered, and automatically deliver exploits and spyware without user interaction. Analysis of roughly four billion ad-bidding records over four months found Discover-Tech ads appearing on almost 200,000 unique websites and mobile apps across dozens of countries and covertly directing millions of devices to contact Candiru servers. Discover-Tech is linked to other mercenary actors including Intelos and Bindecy, and a separate operator, DARK CARTOGRAPHER, is using the same infrastructure to mass-deanonymize users by linking advertising IDs to phone numbers via carrier exploits.
The findings argue that structural features of the real-time bidding advertising ecosystem - per-impression data sharing, third-party code execution inside ads, and ADINT profiling - enable targeted surveillance and automated hacking at scale. Discover-Tech had access to major ad networks and certification lists and leveraged GDPR consent frameworks to reach EU users. Several ad vendors moved to disconnect Discover-Tech after disclosure, but the case exposes systemic detection gaps and calls for regulatory investigation, industry mitigation, and technical countermeasures to stop ad-based zero-click espionage.
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