Governments are hacking people with ‘zero-click’ spyware by showing them online ads


Security researchers at digital rights unit The Citizen Lab say government spyware makers are abusing global advertising networks to target and hack devices by serving malicious online adverts.

A new report published Thursday by the University of Toronto lab, which investigates surveillance and digital rights abuses, said an Israeli company called Discover-Tech allows spyware makers to use its advertising platform to target specific people or devices almost anywhere in the world with spyware capable of invisibly stealing their data.

The researchers say Discover-Tech presents itself as a legitimate advertising firm, but instead serves as a “bridge between ad vendors and the mercenary spyware ecosystem.”

Read more…
Source:  TechCrunch News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • LockBit cyberattack: Fulton County refuses to pay ransom as deadline passes

    March 1, 2024

    Fulton County leaders say they have not paid any ransom to the criminal group claiming responsibility for the cyberattack that affected several of the county’s agencies. The group LockBit had set a deadline of 8:49 a.m. on Thursday for Fulton County to pay the ransom or risk having stolen data leaked onto the dark web. This ...

  • US prescription market hamstrung for 9 days (so far) by ransomware attack

    March 1, 2024

    Nine days after a Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate took down the biggest US health care payment processor, pharmacies, health care providers, and patients were still scrambling to fill prescriptions for medicines, many of which are lifesaving. On Thursday, UnitedHealth Group accused a notorious ransomware gang known both as AlphV and Black Cat of hacking its subsidiary, Optum. ...

  • Here Come the AI Worms

    March 1, 2024

    In a demonstration of the risks of connected, autonomous AI ecosystems, a group of researchers have created one of what they claim are the first generative AI worms—which can spread from one system to another, potentially stealing data or deploying malware in the process. “It basically means that now you have the ability to conduct or ...

  • Malicious meeting invite fix targets Mac users

    March 1, 2024

    Cybercriminals are targeting Mac users interested in cryptocurrency opportunities with fake calendar invites. During the attacks the criminals will send a link supposedly to add a meeting to the target’s calendar. In reality the link runs a script to install Mac malware on the target’s machine. Cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs investigated and flagged the issue. Scammers, impersonating ...

  • Hackers stole ‘sensitive’ data from Taiwan telecom giant

    March 1, 2024

    Hackers stole “sensitive information” including military and government documents from Taiwan’s largest telecom company and sold it on the dark web, the island’s ministry of national defence has said. The confirmation of the democratic island’s latest major data leak followed a report by local news channel TVBS on the hack of telecom giant Chunghwa Telecom. Read more… Source: ...

  • #StopRansomware: Phobos Ransomware

    February 29, 2024

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) are releasing this joint CSA, to disseminate known TTPs and IOCs associated with the Phobos ransomware variants observed as recently as February 2024, according to open source reporting. Phobos is structured as a ransomware-as-a-service ...