Israeli firm Discover-Tech reportedly harvested location data on Starlink users in over 100 countries

Tokyo, Japan. An Israeli company named Discover-Tech allegedly exploited the online advertising system to gather location data on users of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service across more than 100 countries, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The agency relied on six sources familiar with the matter.

What the research found

The findings stem from work by TrendAI, a unit of the Tokyo-based cybersecurity company Trend Micro. Its researchers observed unusually intense activity by Discover-Tech in auctions tied to Starlink users. The company seemed to be the top bidder for ad space connected to the service in more than 100 countries, among them states where Starlink is banned or restricted.

According to Reuters, the company used these advertising auctions to follow users’ whereabouts and could potentially watch their online behaviour. The findings do not establish that particular Starlink users were actually tracked, nor that their devices were infected with spyware.

How the auctions work

These auctions run automatically whenever a person opens a website or an app, as advertising firms compete to place an advert. During the process, information about the user’s device, IP address and approximate location can be shared.

A firm that participates on a systematic basis can gather this data without ever showing an advert. It can also merge the data with other information in an attempt to identify users and follow them across sites and apps.

The TrendAI report

TrendAI released a report on October 15 describing the activity. It did not name the company and used the codename “Shadow-Earth-79” instead. All six sources told Reuters that the codename referred to Discover-Tech.

TrendAI said its policy on naming those responsible is designed to prevent misattribution.