The investigations by Canada-based cybersecurity research group Citizen Lab and New York advertising security firm Confiant found that Discover Tech’s services provided Israeli spyware company Candiru and other surveillance firms with access to advertising platforms operated by companies including Google, Comcast and Russia’s Yandex.
The findings raise concerns about the potential misuse of the online advertising industry, which has long faced criticism over user privacy and data protection.
Citizen Lab senior researcher Wolfie Christl told Reuters that the existing online advertising ecosystem poses a fundamental security risk affecting governments, private businesses, civil society and other stakeholders.
According to Citizen Lab, Discover Tech advertisements, often promoting ordinary products such as mobile phones and earbuds, reached more than 120,000 websites and 75,000 applications through various partners.
Researchers said people visiting websites displaying malicious advertisements or using affected applications could potentially be identified and monitored. In some cases, attempts were also made to obtain smartphone users’ phone numbers.
The investigations found that simply loading an advertisement on a targeted website could be enough to facilitate surveillance. Some advertisements were allegedly used to help install Candiru spyware on users’ devices.
However, Confiant noted that advertisements linked to Candiru represented only a very small proportion of Discover Tech’s overall advertising activity.
Candiru was blacklisted by the US government in 2021 over concerns associated with its spyware operations.