Researchers trace Al Jazeera spyware infections to online ads

Citizen Lab, working with ad-security company Confiant, says at least 45 Al Jazeera Windows computers were infected in 2024 and 2025 after targeted ads loaded on them. The researchers traced the operation to Discover-Tech, an Israeli ad-tech company they say used the same automated auctions that place ordinary ads to identify a device and deliver Candiru spyware; the victim did not need to click, download, or open anything. This is the first public technical evidence, they say, of commercial zero-click spyware being delivered through targeted advertising. The findings do not establish which government commissioned the attacks, but they expose a new use for ad-tech’s detailed targeting data: turning routine ad delivery into a discreet route into a chosen device.