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Governments are hacking people with ‘zero-click’ spyware by showing them online ads
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Low Profile lemmy.world lowprofilestudio@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-10-23
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Zack Whittaker reports: Security researchers at digital rights unit The Citizen Lab say government spyware makers are abusing global advertising networks to target and hack devices by serving malicious online adverts. A new report published Thursday by the University of Toronto lab, which investigates surveillance and digital rights abuses, said an Israeli company called Discover-Tech...

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Schwim Dandy lemmy.zip Schwim@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-06-04
#2 · Quote Reply

What's this "online ad" you speak of?

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dusk piefed.social dusk@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-10-09
#3 · (edited) Quote Reply

An israeli firm used this method to hack Australian government sites very recently.

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cybermonkey piefed.zip cybermonkey@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-10-20
#4 · Quote Reply

So using Ublock Origins is mandatory for staying safe on the web, but i guess most people here are probably using it. Btw this isn't something new, malvertising has always been a thing.

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undefined lemmy.hogru.ch undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch
Joined: 2024-11-07
#5 · Quote Reply

So using Ublock Origins is mandatory for staying safe on the web, but i guess most people here are probably using it. Btw this isn't something new, malvertising has always been a thing.

I find it important to also block with DNS and/or IP blocks. It’s not just websites in the browser doing this stuff, it’s applications on your computer and apps on your phone. Fuck, it’s basically anything connected to the internet.

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moldy_rice piefed.keyboardvagabond.com moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com
Joined: 2026-08-07
#6 · Quote Reply

Governments?

Or just Israel

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Canaconda lemmy.ca Canconda@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-07-10
#7 · Quote Reply

Governments? Or just Israel

Clearly governments on behalf of israel.

Fuckin Nuremburg 2.0 is gonna have cameos from all over the globe.

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DebatableRaccoon lemmy.ca DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-24
#8 · Quote Reply

"Ads"? Sorry, I've been diligently protecting myself with the help of our lord and saviour Ublock Origin for years now.

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cybermonkey piefed.zip cybermonkey@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-10-20
#9 · (edited) Quote Reply

I find it important to also block with DNS and/or IP blocks. It’s not just websites in the browser doing this stuff, it’s applications on your computer and apps on your phone. Fuck, it’s basically anything connected to the internet.

Definitely. Just additional information for users who use Windows, Simplewall which is basically a GUI of the built-in firewall of Windows but it does its job well. I'm sure there's something like that for Linux too. Hostman is also a good tool although not sure if it's still getting updated where you can put blocked IPs, ones used with Ublock for example, into the host file of Windows. And lastly, from your router, but this method I have never tried it and neither mine support it.

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