Australia's nuclear agency targeted with ads linked to spyware that infect devices without a click
Cam Wilson @[email protected]:
Research group, The Citizen Lab, said it found proof that an Israel-based company exploited digital advertising technology to install back doors onto devices, merely by the victim viewing an advertisement on a website or in an app.
This exploit — called ''zero-click mercenary spyware" — allowed bad actors to run code on devices that installed software that acted as a back door to the device, allowing them to access things like passwords, emails and details of internal systems.
The Citizen Lab claims that a company, Discover-Tech, acted as the go-between for online advertising platforms like Google and spyware and hacking companies. At least one of those, Candiru, has been placed under US export controls because of its "malicious cyber activities".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/nuclear-agency-targeted-in-cyber-attack-infecting-devices/107283804Open linkView original on aussie.zone
15 replies
I keep telling the IT people at work...
They've installed enpoint protection that reduces my PC performance by 70%.
They've got so much auth that most things are 4FA.
Services on a virtual desktop through a VPN still need have HTTPS.
The ACLs are so tight that I have to wait weeks on a ticket to make two PCs communicate in the same room.
Session timeouts are so short that I spend half my day reauthenticating with stuff.
Then they don't block ads. Every time I've seen an infected machine, the attack vector has been an ad. It's the only security measure that makes life better for the users, and they don't do it.
I wish they would block the corporate portal 'feelgood' ads. I don't really care that Carl plays over 50s cricket or that Maggie knits sweaters for bald cockatoos.
It's because insurance doesn't require it (yet?)
There's definitely an insurer driving our security policy, hiding behind some ISO audit spec.
Probably the same insurers that gain from scraping personal data from everyone and everything.
4FA lol, good to know I’m not the only one.
this kinda broke last week...
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australian-gov-media-networks-reached-by-israeli-firms-spy-ads-629705 https://citizenlab.ca/research/how-discover-tech-turned-targeted-ads-into-a-pipeline-for-spyware/
conspiracy theory me is wondering why it took 4~5 days to turn up on the abc and why the rest of the media is ignoring it...
in a week where the talking heads cant stfu about paying tax with a credit card bs... "israel hacked ansto" is a pretty killer fucking headline.
This is why we need to actively support independent media in Australia.
I'll be interested to see if Michael West, Independent Australia, Anthony Lowenstein, Lamestream, Dropsite, Ette, Pearls and Irritations go on this pretty hard. Their, et al, journalism is having a positive effect holding mainstream media to account.
https://archivegenocide.com/scan/index.html
In case anyone wanted to check if they'd been tagged
A couple of days ago I put up the this post about Discover-Tech: https://aussie.zone/post/37592418
It seems now the threat is being taken more seriously. Can someone tell me if there is a straightforward way to ad block on my lap top ( I don't have a smart phone) or should I go to a computer business? I am not techno-fluent at all.
Seconding the recommendation for Firefox, which is the only mainstream browser that will allow an ad blocker that isn't compromised.
Google Chrome cripples effective ad blockers (like uBlock Origin, which I also recommend), unsurprisingly because Google is one of the major forces wanting to push adverts. So it's inherently insecure by comparison.
At the most basic, using the Firefox browser with the uBlock Origin extension installed: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
Thanks z_g
Also advise you use extensions like Privacybadger and Ghostery to block the facebooks and amazons of the internet from hammering you with cookies and tracing your clicks
Luckily, I'm no longer on Fb and never use Amazon. Thanks for the tips though.
Same here, these just stop those sites from building a profile of you while you're visiting other sites