Paragon Solutions, a startup that sells access to surveillance technologies, including phone spyware, has cut ties with the Italian government, according to reports from Guardian and Harletts.
On Thursday, citing an anonymous source, the Guardian first signed a deal with Italy on Friday after saying WhatsApp disrupts a hacking campaign that leverages spyware from an Israeli startup targeting around 90 people I reported it was stopped. Paragon ended its contract on Wednesday after the company determined that the Italian government had violated “the terms and ethical framework agreed under the Paragon contract,” according to the British newspaper.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz later confirmed the Guardian’s report, adding that Paragon had ended its dealings with two Italian government agencies (law enforcement and intelligence reporting agencies) and cut off access to a Spyware product called Graphite .
The Italian Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Arturo di Corinto, spokesman for Agenzia Per La Cybersicurezza nazionale (ACN – or national cybersecurity agency) in Italy, said that ACN is in contact with Meta’s legal representative, and that “you know, , as you know, it has been confirmed that it is analysed as extremely important. Given the involvement of foreign companies and the suspicion of surveillance of journalists and human rights activists, it is sensitive.”
Di Corinto said TechCrunch ACN has no further information.
Paragon CEO and co-founder Idan Nurick told TechCrunch that he refused to provide comments on the Italian case and WhatsApp allegations, Paragon CEO and co-founder Idan Nurick.
TechCrunch also contacted John Fleming, executive chairman of Paragon’s US subsidiary.
Citizens targeting European countries in 12 countries
In a statement Wednesday, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office denied any involvement in the spyware campaign revealed by WhatsApp. The Prime Minister’s Office said legally protected subjects, including journalists, were not targeted by Italian intelligence agency.
After WhatsApp revealed the existence of the Spyware campaign, three people moved forward claiming they were targeted. All three of them were critical of the Italian government.
The first victim was Francesco Cancellato, director of news website Fanpage.it. Last year, he published a documentary survey on Meloni’s far-right party youth wing, showing that he made racist remarks and chanted Nazi and fascist slogans.
On the same day, he was targeted for being critical of the Italian-Libyan government’s deal to stop immigrants from crossing the Mediterranean, Husam El Gomati, a Libyan activist living in Sweden. He said he received a notification from WhatsApp to let him know.
On Wednesday, Luca Casarini, co-founder of Mediterranea Saving Human, a non-governmental organisation supporting immigration, also said he was being targeted.
inquiry
Do you have more information about Paragon Solutions and this Spyware campaign? From non-work devices, you can safely contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai with a signal of +1 917 257 1382, via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or send an email. You can also contact TechCrunch via SecureDrop.
More casualties could soon be revealed, not just in Italy. Italian government contacted WhatsApp to ask about the company’s claims, Meta-owned companies have phone users in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Latvia and Lithuania He said he said. Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden.
Governments of these countries, which have been contacted through US embassies and other government agencies, did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
On Tuesday, Paragon’s Fleming told TechCrunch that the company counted the US government and its unspecified “allies” as clients. Euractiv reported on Thursday that the company has a subsidiary in Hamburg, Germany.
Fleming also told TechCrunch that Paragon “requires that all users agree to terms that expressly prohibit illegal targeting of journalists and other civil society figures.”
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for such targeting and end our relationships with customers who violate the terms of use,” Fleming said.
For Italian customers, Paragon appears to have followed that policy.
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