Israeli company Discover-Tech has been accused of conducting a large-scale surveillance operation by tracking people using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet service, Reuters reports.
According to six people familiar with the situation, researchers at TrendAI, a division of cyber security company Trend Micro, identified Discover-Tech as a major source of digital advertisements shown to Starlink users. The findings suggest that these advertisements were not intended for commercial purposes, but were instead used to identify users’ physical locations and monitor their activities.
Data analysed by TrendAI showed that Discover-Tech was a dominant bidder in the digital advertising auction system for Starlink traffic in more than 100 countries. Notably, this also included regions where the satellite service is restricted or entirely illegal.
Although TrendAI’s official report used the pseudonym Shadow-Earth-79 to describe the entity, sources confirm that this was a code name for Discover-Tech. The company said it had refrained from publicly naming the business to prevent inaccuracies and avoid inflammatory labelling.
The strategic value of satellite data
The ability to monitor Starlink users has become highly valuable to various governments because the service bypasses traditional national telecommunications infrastructure. This allows users to circumvent local censorship or maintain communications in conflict zones such as Ukraine, where the military uses the service to coordinate drones and field operations.
Earlier reports by Intelligence Online and Haaretz also indicated that Israeli companies were marketing tools to track Starlink users through the use of advertising data.
Parallel investigations by New York-based company Confiant and Canadian group Citizen Lab explicitly named Discover-Tech, alleging that the company manipulated the advertising bidding process to obtain user data. This technique allows a bidder to collect fragments of information over time, ultimately de-anonymising individuals and potentially paving the way for more intrusive surveillance software.
The groups noted that the advertisements appeared within the networks of government agencies, technology companies and media companies. As a result, major platforms such as Comcast and Google have banned Discover-Tech.
Further evidence of non-commercial intentions was found in the geographical distribution of the advertisements. TrendAI found that the entity was the largest advertiser in countries such as South Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Syria, and held the second-largest position in Afghanistan.
Given that there is virtually no legitimate market for Western advertising in these conflict-ravaged or sanctioned territories, this pattern points to an infrastructure for tracking users rather than a commercial enterprise.
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