I'm a gamer and a weeb. Transwoman and lesbian, too (yes, we exist). Not afraid to share my opinion on things--you've been warned.
California, USA
Joined February 2016
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Nerd Letter🤍🩷🐮🍸🎼 retweeted
I'm writing this in English so it'll reach more people, there's no food in multiple regions of Southern Italy because gas costs way too much and truck drivers are on strike because of it, I find this situation absurd and the fact that the news don't talk about it makes me mad
Nerd Letter🤍🩷🐮🍸🎼 retweeted
An ad appears on your screen.
You don't click it.
Doesn't matter.
Spyware is already inside your device.
Citizen Lab just published the first documented proof.
Called it AdFection.
An Israeli ad-tech company called Discover-Tech ran the operation.
Controlium is their platform.
Here's how it works.
Ad network profiles you. Uses your advertising ID. Your IP address. Your cookies.
Builds a fingerprint.
Then Controlium serves a targeted ad.
The moment the ad loads. Not clicked. Just rendered.
The device makes a connection to Discover-Tech servers.
Which immediately connects to Candiru spyware servers.
Exploit fires. Spyware installs. You never knew the ad existed.
Al Jazeera was the confirmed target.
45 journalist devices. Infected between 2024 and 2025.
Controlium had a list of IP addresses and ad IDs that matched their staff.
Served them invisible ads.
Which delivered invisible spyware.
Discover-Tech's ads appeared on 120,000 websites.
75,000 apps.
10 million impressions per day.
Across 161 countries.
Reaching NATO. The UN. EU institutions. US Department of Defense.
All potential targets.
Google certified Discover-Tech for six years.
Listed them as an approved vendor.
Didn't catch anything.
Only cut ties after Citizen Lab published.
citizenlab.ca/research/expos…
The ad network was the spyware delivery system.
No one was monitoring it because ad networks aren't supposed to do this.
So no one thought to look.
Online ads can apparently do a lot more than track you.
Citizen Lab has uncovered a technique called “AdFection” that uses targeted advertising to deliver zero-click spyware.
The attack works without the victim clicking an ad. A malicious ad can be shown to a specifically targeted device, exploit a vulnerability, and potentially install spyware automatically.
Citizen Lab traced the operation to Discover-Tech, an Israeli ad-tech company whose Controlium platform was used to profile and identify targets before delivering the spyware.
Researchers found evidence that at least 45 devices at Al Jazeera were infected with Candiru spyware between 2024 and 2025.
Discover-Tech’s advertising reached more than 120,000 websites and around 75,000 apps, potentially exposing hundreds of millions of users to the tracking infrastructure.
Google and other advertising companies have since cut ties with Discover-Tech following the findings. citizenlab.ca/research/how-d…
Nerd Letter🤍🩷🐮🍸🎼 retweeted
This is what billionaire ownership of the media means:
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta shut down the No Kings account for hours during the height of their protests.
Meta suppressed accounts supporting Brazil President Lula da Silva in the recent election.
Larry Ellison’s TikTok blocked advertising for a documentary criticizing Elon Musk.
Fight back. Defeat oligarchy. Preserve democracy.
Nerd Letter🤍🩷🐮🍸🎼 retweeted
the parallel of Rulership's when wining/losing the race is so funny😆
(you can hear it through her in game voicelines)
