Citizen Lab researchers say two Tel Aviv-based firms—spyware vendor Candiru,
known for assisting governments in hacking phones, and ad tech company Discover
Tech—used manipulated web ads to install surveillance spyware on 45 devices at
Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera during 2024–25. The report says Discover Tech
embedded malicious code in ads to exfiltrate data, ran campaigns across multiple
major ad networks including Alphabet’s ad network, and had appeared on approved
vendor lists maintained by Google and IAB Europe.