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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[–] 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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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  • [–] 9 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    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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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago*

    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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  • [–] 17 points 1 week ago

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

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  • [–] 13 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Governments?

    Or just Israel

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    "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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  • [–] 7 points 1 week ago*

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

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    [–] 8 points 1 week ago*

    Wasn't this story only about Israel doing this? Now it's about "Goverments"?

    Edit: The article is literally only about that Israeli company, lol. Nice self-censorship.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (1 child)

    Once we've solved the current fascism problem we are coming for the advertisers. I'm especially looking at you "Tide". The tech bros are bad actors and you subsidize the hell out of them. /s

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