Israeli digital advertising agency Discover-Tech accused of using online advertisements for tracking and access to devices

Israeli digital advertising agency Discover-Tech is accused of using a vast network of online ads to identify and track users and facilitate the installation of spyware. The disclosure was made Thursday by Citizen Lab and Confiant, two organizations specializing in cybersecurity and protecting the advertising ecosystem.

According to the reports, Discover-Tech ads appeared on more than 120,000 websites and in approximately 75,000 apps, including networks associated with the Pentagon, the UN, NATO, the European Commission and several governments. It was enough for an ad to load for users to be identified and tracked. In some cases, the ads allegedly facilitated the installation of spyware developed by Israeli company Candiru, which has been placed on the US blacklist.

Researchers estimate that Discover-Tech displayed at least 10 million ads per day, and that hundreds of millions of people could have been targeted. The company allegedly also used “cookie matching” agreements to track users beyond its own ads.

Google announced that it had removed Discover-Tech from its platforms for systematic violations of its policies. IAB Europe and Beeswax also suspended the company. Discover-Tech and Candiru did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.