Israeli ad-tech firm helped spy on Al Jazeera devices

Citizen Lab investigation says dozens of Al Jazeera devices were infected by malware planted through advertisements.Published On 15 Oct 202615 Oct 2026Israeli advertising technology company Discover-Tech helped place spyware on dozens of devices used by Al Jazeera and other companies, a Citizen Lab investigation prompted by Al Jazeera’s own initial internal probe has confirmed.Al Jazeera Media Network on Thursday said it “condemns the targeting of devices belonging to several of its employees with spyware”.“The network voluntarily collaborated with the researchers, and this cooperation, according to the report, contributed to verifying these attacks and publicly documenting them.”Al Jazeera will continue to “protect its employees and systems”.The network said targeting journalists is an “assault on press freedom and the public’s right to knowledge” and called for those responsible to be held accountable.Spyware from Candiru, a firm blacklisted by the United States government in 2021 for its malicious cyber activities, was planted on these devices, using what Citizen Lab described as the first-known instance of “zero-click” targeted advertising.The Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary ...