Israeli ‘ad’ firm helped infect spyware into Al Jazeera devices - Al Jazeera

Citizen Lab investigation says dozens of Al Jazeera devices were infected by malware planted through advertisements. Israeli advertising technology company Discover-Tech helped place spyware on dozens of devices used by Al Jazeera and other companies. Al Jazeera Media Network on Thursday said it “condemns the spyware attacks targeting a number of its staff” and pledged to continue to “protect its employees and systems”. The network said targeting journalists is an “assault on press freedom” and called for those responsible to be held accountable. A Citizen Lab investigation, prompted by Al Jazeera’s initial internal probe into the issue, has confirmed that spyware from Candiru, an Israeli spyware firm blacklisted by the United States government in 2021 for its malicious cyber activities, was planted on these devices, using the first-known instance of “zero-click” targeted advertising. The nature of installing this spyware means that once an infected advertisement appears on a device, that device, too, is infected – spying on, and feeding, all the data and information available on that platform to those stealing it.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recorded 4,410 measles cases so far in 2026, an increase of 330 in a week, and has dispatched an investigator to the state of Pennsylvania to help contain the country’s largest outbreak. CDC figures also show 451 measles-related hospitalisations nationwide this year. Children and teenagers aged five to 19 account for 42 percent of cases, followed by adults aged 20 and older, who make up 41 percent. Seventeen percent of cases were among children under the age of five.

Here’s your NYT Strands hint for today, plus the spangram and all of today’s Strands answers for puzzle No. 959 on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. Today’s Strands theme was tricky. It helps to be a runner. Read on for all the answers.

A supply-chain attack involving ConnectWise’s cloud services has exposed Microsoft 365 customers to unauthorized application access, with researchers reporting successful sign-ins across 173 partner and customer tenants. The incident centres on credentials associated with ConnectWise Cloud Backup, formerly SkyKick, and raises concerns about attackers exploiting permissions already entrusted to business software. ConnectWise has confirmed unauthorized access to application identities within its Cloud Backup environment. In an October 17 update on its service-status page, the company said it was shutting off application access, interrupting customer backups while investigation and remediation continued.

Huawei’s next budget phone, the Enjoy 100 Pro, just leaked with a battery above 8,000mAh, a Kirin 8-series chip and four new colors, according to well-known Weibo tipster Digital Chat Station. The Enjoy line is how Huawei sells phones to millions of price-conscious buyers in China, and this leak shows that huge batteries have become a budget feature, while screens may be where costs get cut. Here’s what the leak says, what we think it means, and what to expect before launch.