Citizen Lab reported the first publicly confirmed zero-click mercenary spyware attack delivered through targeted online ads, a technique it calls "AdFection". The Israel-based adtech firm Discover-Tech allegedly acts as a front and middleman between the advertising ecosystem and spyware vendors. Citizen Lab traced attacks on at least 45 A…
On October 6, 2026, ASOS app users received a push notification stating the company had been hacked, sent by attackers who gained access to third-party customer messaging platforms used by ASOS. The note, addressed to ASOS's DPO and IT team, claimed the Snowflake instance was "fully compromised" and threatened a leak unless ASOS engaged. …
Citizen Lab reports that Candiru spyware was delivered to devices at Al Jazeera Media Network through targeted online advertisements, in a zero-click attack that only required the malicious ad to render on the victim's device. Citizen Lab calls the technique AdFection and says its report is the first public technical confirmation of merce…
Citizen Lab reported that Israeli mercenary spyware vendor Candiru infected devices at Al Jazeera through targeted online ads that needed no user interaction. It calls this the first public technical confirmation of mercenary spyware reaching real devices via ad delivery. At least 45 Al Jazeera devices were targeted in 2024 and 2025, and …
The Citizen Lab disclosed AdFection, the first technical demonstration of zero-click mercenary spyware delivered through targeted online advertising. The Israeli firm Discover-Tech presents itself as a legitimate ad company but acts as a facilitator for several mercenary spyware partners, including Candiru. Its ads covertly direct million…
Citizen Lab documented AdFection, a campaign in which the Israeli-founded ad firm Discover-Tech delivered zero-click mercenary spyware attributed to Candiru through the online advertising ecosystem. During 2024 and 2025, 45 devices belonging to Al Jazeera were targeted. Citizen Lab calls this the first detailed public technical evidence o…
Unit 42 attributes with high confidence to an Iranian state-aligned actor, tracked as CL-STA-1178, a campaign called Blinder Tunnel. In March 2026 it targeted an individual in Iraq's critical infrastructure sector, after infrastructure staging that began as early as November 2025. The actor impersonated the Dubai Airports IT department an…
Flashpoint's weekly Middle East brief for October 9-15 describes sustained kinetic escalation alongside cyber and information operations. Ansarallah (Houthis) ran a multi-day missile, drone and cruise-missile campaign against King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. It killed at least 14 people and closed the airport through at least …