AdFection: Targeted ads turned into a pipeline for zero-click mercenary spyware

Posted by jcomp 13 hours ago

361 points | 530 commentspage 5

hn_submit 10 hours ago|

I doubt it's that easy to click on a link and install malware without the user knowing. Most browsers are highly secure and finding a zero day isn't that easy these days because both sides use A.I. to find vulnerabilities and to secure against them.

iamnothere 10 hours ago||

It’s not “easy”, it requires a complex infrastructure of exploit devs (who can sell their findings for millions in some cases) and the companies who package these exploits together with implants and sell them.

https://www.packetlabs.net/posts/demystifying-the-market-for...

oulipo 10 hours ago|||

"Most browsers are highly secure"... erm no

LtWorf 10 hours ago||

One side uses AI to find them. The other side probably needs to keep the holes open for NSA, as the multiple 0 click root exploits that happened in the past to the iPhone with very similar techniques suggest.

andunie 11 hours ago||

Do ad blockers protect against this?

Lio 11 hours ago||

> Reuters has reported that billions of dollars’ worth of Meta’s ad revenue comes from ads for scams, illegal gambling, pornography and other banned content. In the US, ICE and other government agencies have bought software that uses ad tech data to track people’s movements.

I don't know if an ad blocker protects against Discover-Tech’s Controlium but in general you'd be a fool to allow ads in your browser in at this point. The ad industry is pretty shady all round.

MSFT_Edging 10 hours ago||

For years there was a strong segment of HN commenters who would come on and declare a moral imperative for not using ad blockers and looking at every ad you could in order to support a website.

One must wonder how many were genuine vs an influence op.

dualvariable 8 hours ago||

Or genuine people who ate an influence op before posting here.

The whole point of an influence op is to find a bunch of useful idiots to provide a large multiplicative factor.

And that's the problem with arguing that something is an influence op, because it is going to be mostly genuine people by the time it gets to you, even though you're not wrong.

c16 10 hours ago|||

On web, likely. If it's in app mobile then no. Run a DNS ad blocker.

chunkyslink 11 hours ago||

[dead]

jazzyjackson 4 hours ago||

This is what ad networks are for, by the way

Iolaum 9 hours ago||

Curious if GrapheneOS phones were also vulnerable to this.

Wild guess even if not in this particular case it's best to consider the possibility as non theoretical.

jacquesm 9 hours ago||

Earlier link:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50101813

underdeserver 9 hours ago||

The headline is "Online ads weaponised to deliver ‘zero-click’ spyware, researchers say"

NelsonMinar 9 hours ago||

Once again proving that ads are an unacceptable security threat. All those sites now deploying ad-blocker blockers should assume liability for whatever ad software they force their readers to run.

zyngaro 10 hours ago||

I wonder who they were facilitating the targeting for given the target countries.

kotaKat 9 hours ago|

Apps should be required to disclose every single ad network they use as part of their app store disclosures. I want a lot more transparency as to where the ads are coming from inside the app itself.

I've witnessed consumer apps throwing quite heinous malware/sketchware advertisements and watched the banners rotate between 4-5 different ad vendors to keep things hot and spicy.

itopaloglu83 9 hours ago|

The incentives are lopsided, there’s so much money to be made by selling access to you and your devices, and controlling you, than just taking your money.

Firaxus 8 hours ago||

Indeed, it seems there are some externalities that a 100% free market doesn’t protect against for which regulation is probably the best tool.

A regulation here that applies to all app stores is even business friendly as an appstore which wanted to do this already wouldn’t be punished by trying to do this on their own, for the reasons you mentioned.

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