Overview
Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary research group at the University of Toronto investigating digital threats to civil society, including mercenary spyware, censorship, and targeted surveillance.
Recent Developments
- 2026-10-15: Published “Exposing AdFection” — links discover-tech’s Controlium ad platform to candiru spyware, including confirmed infections at al-jazeera via adfection (2026-10-15-targeted-ads-0-click-mercenary-malware)
- Investigation followed Al Jazeera’s internal 2024–2025 anomaly review; corroborated by Reuters, Al Jazeera, and Confiant reporting on ad-network reach