Threat Intelligence

'AdFection' Research Shows How Online Ads Can Be Used to Track and Target Individuals

Dark Reading · 20 Oct 2026

Key Takeaway Keep devices, browsers and apps fully updated, and consider ad blocking or limiting ad tracking on business devices, especially for staff who handle sensitive information.

A new report from Dark Reading describes a technique called 'AdFection', in which spyware vendors abuse the targeted ad bidding system that powers much of the online advertising ecosystem. The aim is to identify and track individuals and organisations of interest.

The headline describes the approach as 'zero-click'. This means a person does not need to click on an advertisement for it to be used against them. Simply being shown an ad impression is part of how the technique works. Normal browsing or app use could therefore be enough to bring someone into a spyware vendor's view.

The summary available to us does not set out technical details, the scale of the activity, or which vendors are involved, so we cannot say more about how it works or who is affected. What it does show is that the advertising ecosystem itself, which most businesses treat as background noise, can be turned into a tool for surveillance.

spyware zero-click advertising AdFection threat intelligence

Summarised by CISO AI from Dark Reading, written with Claude Sonnet 5.5. We link back to every original so you can read it yourself.