Israeli Ad Tech Firm Accused of Aiding Global Espionage

By מיטל וייזברג

Translated & summarized from N12 by baba

CenterCharged tone

Hebrew · 8 newsrooms covering

Two cybersecurity research groups have accused Israeli advertising company Discover-Tech of exploiting digital ad systems for global user tracking and spyware distribution. The researchers linked Discover-Tech to Israeli firm Candiru and a breach of 45 Al Jazeera computers. Google and Comcast have blocked Discover-Tech from their platforms following the findings, which suggest hundreds of millions may have been exposed to its operations.

The story in 6 lines · by baba

Israeli ad tech firm Discover-Tech is accused of aiding global espionage and user tracking.
Researchers linked Discover-Tech to Israeli spyware company Candiru and a breach of 45 Al Jazeera computers.
Discover-Tech allegedly used digital advertising systems to monitor users and distribute spyware.
Google and Comcast have blocked Discover-Tech from their advertising platforms.
The company's ads reportedly reached over 120,000 websites and 75,000 apps globally.
Hundreds of millions of people may have been exposed to Discover-Tech's operations, according to one estimate.

Israeli Ad Tech Firm Accused of Aiding Global Espionage — Editorial illustration generated by baba News, not a photograph of the event.

Israeli digital advertising company Discover-Tech is facing serious allegations of facilitating user tracking and espionage activities. According to a Reuters report, two cybersecurity research groups claim the company exploited digital advertising systems to monitor internet users worldwide and assist in the distribution of spyware. These researchers link Discover-Tech's operations to the Israeli offensive cyber firm Candiru and a breach of 45 computers belonging to Al Jazeera.

The allegations stem from coordinated reports by Citizen Lab, a research institute at the University of Toronto, and Confiant, a US-based cybersecurity firm. Their findings suggest that Discover-Tech, established in 2020 and led by CEO Dekel Boni, provided Israeli spyware companies, including Candiru, access to advertising systems of major platforms like Google, Comcast, and Russia's Yandex.

One significant finding connects Discover-Tech's infrastructure to the distribution of Candiru's spyware, which researchers believe was used to breach 45 Windows computers at Qatar's Al Jazeera network between 2024 and 2025. While Al Jazeera did not comment, the researchers confirmed the breaches using network traffic data. Confiant noted that the ads linked to Candiru represented a small fraction of Discover-Tech's total ad distribution.

Discover-Tech's operations, described as distributing at least 10 million ads daily, highlight how commercial advertising systems can be repurposed for surveillance. Citizen Lab reported the company's ads reached over 120,000 websites and 75,000 apps globally. Researchers stated these ads were used to identify users, collect data on their online activities, and potentially obtain their phone numbers, often without user interaction beyond ad display. Confiant co-founder Jerome Dangu estimated that hundreds of millions of people might have been exposed.

Reports also indicate that Discover-Tech-related ads appeared on sensitive networks, including those of the Pentagon, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Criminal Court. While this exposure doesn't confirm breaches, it demonstrates the reach of the advertising infrastructure. Google and Comcast have since blocked Discover-Tech from their advertising platforms due to policy violations, and the European Digital Advertising Association has suspended the company.