FlagThis — Daily Cybersecurity Intelligence Briefing

In late 2026, Citizen Lab identified a zero‑click spyware campaign whereby the Israeli mercenary vendor Candiru delivered its surveillance implant through malicious online advertisements served by the ad‑tech intermediary Discover‑Tech via its ‘AdFection’ technique. The exploit leveraged a browser rendering vulnerability (likely a use‑after‑free in Skia) to achieve remote code execution on ad load, requiring no user interaction. Targets included journalists and staff at Al Jazeera, enabling exfiltration of SMS, call logs, microphone, camera, and location data via HTTPS C2 to cloud‑fronted domains. The incident demonstrates scalable, stealthy mercenary spyware distribution via legitimate ad ecosystems.