Discover-Tech Ranked Top Ad Bidder on Starlink Traffic in Over 100 Countries

Discover-Tech, an Israeli advertising technology company, was the largest bidder for ad space on Starlink traffic in more than 100 countries, researchers at TrendAI found. TrendAI, the cybersecurity unit of Trend Micro, identified the firm as the primary source of digital ads served to users of SpaceX's Starlink service. Six people familiar with the matter confirmed the attribution. The company did not respond to requests for comment over the past two weeks, and SpaceX also declined to comment.

Analysis of digital advertising data showed Discover-Tech ranked among the world's leading bidders for ad placements targeting Starlink subscribers. Bidding refers to the auction system advertisers use to buy space within browsers and applications. TrendAI released a report on Oct. 15 describing targeting of Starlink users but referred to the company as Shadow-Earth-79. Six sources confirmed that codename maps to Discover-Tech. TrendAI said its attribution strategy was designed to minimize errors and avoid labels that could mislead defenders or trigger inappropriate responses.

TrendAI said executives raised legal concerns that led to the decision to publish a codename rather than name the company. Discover-Tech's chief executive did not respond to requests for comment. On the same day TrendAI published its findings, Canadian cyber watchdog Citizen Lab and New York-based firm Confiant also named Discover-Tech. Both groups said the company abused the ad-bidding process to leak user data. Google and Comcast removed Discover-Tech from their ad platforms after those investigations. At least one major US tech company and one international organization have opened internal inquiries into potential employee targeting.

TrendAI's report described bidding patterns it said showed Shadow-Earth-79 was operating tracking infrastructure rather than a commercial advertising business. The entity was the top buyer of ads in Syria, Libya, Yemen, and South Sudan, and the second-largest buyer in Afghanistan. It secured a dominant share of bids in Hungary, Israel, Egypt, Azerbaijan, and Venezuela. Starlink routes data through satellites operated by SpaceX rather than local telecom firms, which lets it bypass national internet restrictions. Ukraine's military uses the service for frontline communications and drone coordination.

Earlier this year, Haaretz and Intelligence Online reported that Israeli businesses were marketing methods to identify and track Starlink users, and both reports pointed to ad data in the tracking process. Citizen Lab and Confiant noted that these ads appeared inside networks belonging to media organizations, governments, and technology firms. Leaked data can be combined with other information to de-anonymize users and track their movements. TrendAI said it was confident in its identification of Discover-Tech.