Latest / eSIM STUDIOS Podcast - Tech News + Reviews / New Israel Spyware Uncovered - Spying on Your Phone via Google Ads Al Jazeera Reports.

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New Israel Spyware Uncovered - Spying on Your Phone via Google Ads Al Jazeera Reports. · eSIM STUDIOS Podcast - Tech News + Reviews

• 0:00
  a new israeli spyware malware potentially infected
• 0:05
  hundreds of millions of users and directly infected
• 0:10
  al jazeera journalists wait until you hear their
• 0:15
  latest hack holy crap watch this your phone can
• 0:21
  be hacked without you clicking on anything at
• 0:23
  all you just have to scroll past that ad on your
• 0:25
  timeline and it's enough spyware attaches itself
• 0:28
  to your phone records your screen, your passwords,
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  uploads your private data to a hacker miles away.
• 0:34
  How do I know this? Because it happened to us.
• 0:37
  In 2025, Al Jazeera's technology team began to
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  notice some strange patterns on some of our journalists'
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  devices. What they found was Trojan malware.
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  Someone was trying to find out what they were
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  working on. The spyware was developed by the
• 0:50
  Israeli company Kendiru. It collects information
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  from specific ads that appear on normal websites.
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  If you scroll past the ad, or even if they add
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  loads in the background, that's enough. It redirects
• 1:02
  you to an infected server belonging to Kandiru,
• 1:05
  which downloads the malware onto your device
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  and begins collecting data and sending it back
• 1:10
  to the server. It can gather documents, browser
• 1:12
  data, passwords. It can take screenshots, record
• 1:16
  microphone and webcam input, as well as read
• 1:18
  your messages. It also burrows deep into your
• 1:21
  phone or laptop and prevents itself from being
• 1:24
  found. But how do these secret ads appear? How
• 1:27
  do they find you? that's where the second israeli
• 1:29
  company discover tech comes in because it presents
• 1:32
  as a legitimate advertising firm it's been able
• 1:35
  to buy up ad space on a number of websites and
• 1:38
  social media platforms what it's really doing
• 1:40
  is selling these ads to mercenary spyware partners
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  the companies that develop these trojan bugs
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  it uses audience targeting tools on these platforms
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  to pinpoint potential victims by location it
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  could even target ads to individual ip addresses
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  This is how the hackers were able to find Al
• 1:58
  Jazeera's staff and run these encrypted ads directly
• 2:01
  to them. And again, no one had to click on any
• 2:04
  of the ads. All they had to do was load them.
• 2:07
  The company was listed by Google among its ad
• 2:10
  manager certified external vendors and ad technology
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  partners, which helped it appear legitimate to
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  other platforms and run ads to 200 ,000 unique
• 2:19
  websites and apps in dozens of countries. All
• 2:23
  right, so an Israeli ad tech firm helped place
• 2:27
  spyware on Al Jazeera devices directly and indirectly
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  potentially infected hundreds of millions of
• 2:37
  devices. Now, Citizen Lab investigation says
• 2:42
  dozens of Al Jazeera devices were infected by
• 2:45
  malware planted through online advertisements.
• 2:49
  This is crazy. Israeli advertising technology
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  company Discover Tech helped place spyware on
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  dozens of devices used by Al Jazeera and other
• 3:00
  companies. Al Jazeera Media Network on Thursday
• 3:03
  said it condemns the spyware attacks targeting
• 3:07
  a number of its staff, quote unquote, and pledged
• 3:10
  to continue to, quote, protect its employees
• 3:13
  and systems. I don't know how the hell you protect
• 3:16
  your employees and your systems. when Israel's
• 3:20
  coming up with these super sophisticated attacks.
• 3:24
  Look, if this is just now seeing the light of
• 3:28
  day, meaning if you and I know about it right
• 3:31
  now, what are they doing for the future? Because
• 3:36
  this attack was back in late 2024 and early 2025.
• 3:41
  We're at the end of 2026. What the hell are they
• 3:45
  working on right now? Now this is... Especially
• 3:48
  alarming because in this sophisticated attack,
• 3:52
  they were sending ads to devices in and around.
• 3:55
  As I mentioned, if you use Google Ads, you can
• 3:59
  show your ads to a very targeted location and
• 4:05
  or group of people. So if this malicious ad that
• 4:10
  the Israeli spies wanted to infect Al Jazeera
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  journalists with, If Israeli spies knew that
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  Al Jazeera journalists were going to this one
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  main Al Jazeera outlet building, let's just say
• 4:27
  in London, well, the Israeli spies can target
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  that specific neighborhood wherever the Al Jazeera
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  journalists go to report to work at 9 o 'clock,
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  right? Or whenever they do. anyone, meaning your
• 4:48
  eye, in and around that area would also get that
• 4:53
  ad on your phone. So even if they don't target
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  you, even if you're just in the area where they
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  choose to display that advertisement, let's say
• 5:01
  you live two blocks away from where Al Jazeera's
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  building is, your phone is probably infected.
• 5:07
  And once you scroll past that advertisement,
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  your device is infected. Zero click. You don't
• 5:14
  have to do anything. So that's why these things
• 5:17
  are, that's why I always try and bring these
• 5:23
  to light, at least to my viewers, to put it out
• 5:27
  there and let you know just how important security
• 5:29
  is. Now, the issue with this, with these highly
• 5:34
  sophisticated attacks is, I don't know if there's
• 5:38
  anything we can do to prevent this. In fact,
• 5:41
  there's probably not. Now, Google found out about
• 5:44
  this. and obviously blacklisted the company from
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  advertising on their platform once they found
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  out what they were doing but the damage is already
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  done they've already collected all the information
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  they need from your device right um but as far
• 6:02
  as security goes on an iphone on an android hell
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  they were even even taking data from laptops
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  so I don't know if iOS, I don't know if Android,
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  I don't know if macOS, I don't know if Windows
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  security and or security patches that they push
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  out would patch this. I mean, it has now, but
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  I'm saying this attack, sophisticated attack
• 6:27
  is damn near two years old. So what are they
• 6:31
  working on now? Or what do they already have
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  implemented now in the public space that can
• 6:36
  infect our phones? That's why I roasted Motorola
• 6:40
  as I did just the other day for only putting
• 6:44
  out a security patch update once every other
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  month. We're going to do bi -monthly security
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  patch updates. Don't get me started. Stupid idea.
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  That's why I only use devices that get updated
• 7:00
  monthly is for stuff like this. Once Google finds
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  out about this, it's probably included in one
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  of those updates last year. that we had no clue
• 7:11
  about where it'll protect us from these things
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  once they find out obviously the damage is already
• 7:17
  done right because they're it's a cat and mouse
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  game with these hackers and security and these
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  hackers and security once the hacker once the
• 7:26
  hackers get found out what they're doing they'll
• 7:29
  push the security update to patch it but then
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  the hackers are on to another plan and it's just
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  it's just cat and mouse cat and mouse cat and
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  mouse that's why i put security so so high on
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  my list of priorities and you should too honestly
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  so that's why it is unacceptable for motorola
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  to essentially not even update their mid -range
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  and budget phones and then with their flagship
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  phones oh we'll do once every other month no
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  damn it update your flagship They should update
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  every single device monthly. Like that is unacceptable.
• 8:03
  You know what I'm saying? But at the very least,
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  they're flagship devices. You're not updating
• 8:08
  every month with a security patch. Are you freaking
• 8:10
  crazy, Motorola? But look, scary thing. Just
• 8:15
  be mindful of what you're doing on your devices.
• 8:18
  Even though this, how many advertisements have
• 8:21
  we scrolled by in the past? Millions and not
• 8:24
  even think twice about it. So it's just stuff
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  like this that, just makes you wonder yeah there's
• 8:30
  probably nothing we could have done to protected
• 8:32
  ourselves from this hack and or attack uh but
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  just be mindful of what you can and try to stay
• 8:40
  on top of it as much as you can um scary stuff
• 8:44
  out here but let me know what you think down
• 8:46
  below in the comments and i'll see y 'all on
• 8:48
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