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:
- Bot army risk as 3,000+ apps found spilling Twitter API keys
August 2, 2022
Want to build your own army? Engineers at CloudSEK have published a report on how to do just that in terms of bots and Twitter, thanks to API keys leaking from applications. Researchers at the company say they’ve uncovered 3,207 apps leaking Twitter API keys, which can be used to gain access to or even entirely ...
- SolidBit Ransomware Enters the RaaS Scene and Takes Aim at Gamers and Social Media Users With New Variant
August 2, 2022
Trend Micro researchers recently analyzed a sample of a new SolidBit ransomware variant that targets users of popular video games and social media platforms. The malware was uploaded to GitHub, where it is disguised as different applications, including a League of Legends account checker tool (Figure 1) and an Instagram follower bot, to lure in ...
- Manjusaka: A Chinese sibling of Sliver and Cobalt Strike
August 2, 2022
Cisco Talos has discovered a relatively new attack framework called “Manjusaka” (which can be translated to “cow flower” from the Simplified Chinese writing) by their authors, being used in the wild. As defenders, it is important to keep track of offensive frameworks such as Cobalt Strike and Sliver so that enterprises can effectively defend against attacks ...
- CISA and ACSC Release Top 2021 Malware Strains
August 2, 2022
CISA and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) have published a joint Cybersecurity Advisory on the top malware strains observed in 2021. Malicious cyber actors often use malware to covertly compromise and then gain access to a computer or mobile device. As malicious cyber actors have been using most of these top malware strains for ...
- BlackCat ransomware claims attack on European gas pipeline
August 1, 2022
The ALPHV ransomware gang, aka BlackCat, claimed responsibility for a cyberattack against Creos Luxembourg S.A. last week, a natural gas pipeline and electricity network operator in the central European country. Creos’ owner, Encevo, who operates as an energy supplier in five EU countries, announced on July 25 that they had suffered a cyberattack the previous weekend, ...
- Activists use torrents to spread uncensored news to Russian pirates
August 1, 2022
A team of Ukrainian cyber-activists has thought of a simple yet potentially effective way to spread uncensored information in Russia: bundling torrents with text and video files pretending to include installation instructions. Named “Torrents of Truth,” the initiative is similar to “Call Russia,” a project to help break through Russian propaganda and open people’s eyes to ...