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Mercenary Spyware

2 GoKawiil briefs on this topic

Citizen Lab finds mercenary spyware delivered via zero-click ads on iOS and Android

Citizen Lab researchers reported a campaign dubbed AdFection in which malicious ads containing zero-click exploits installed spyware on targeted phones without any user interaction. The group confirmed 45 infected devices at Al Jazeera during 2024 and 2025, and linked the ad delivery to Israeli company Discover-Tech, which brokers ad placements between advertisers and publishers.

arstechnica.com · 2026-10-15

Citizen Lab finds spyware delivered through targeted ads, zero clicks needed

Researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab identified a campaign, named 'AdFection,' in which an Israeli-registered ad company allegedly linked to a spyware vendor's servers infected dozens of devices through digital advertising, with no action required from victims. Citizen Lab says this is the first publicly documented technical evidence of spyware being distributed this way.

wired.com · 2026-10-15