Last year, WhatsApp and Apple alerted several individuals in Italy, including journalists and activists, that they had been targeted with government spyware. WhatsApp identified Paragon Solutions, an Israeli American surveillance tech company, as the provider behind the technology used in a hacking campaign affecting about 90 people globally with its “Graphite” spyware.
This notification led to a scandal in Italy, prompting victims to file criminal complaints, which led to an investigation by the prosecutors. Despite Paragon’s initial promise to assist in the investigation, the company is reportedly not cooperating.
According to Wired Italy, Italian prosecutors sent a request for information to Paragon through the Israeli government, but the company has not responded after a year. Following the scandal’s emergence, Paragon publicly criticized the Italian government for refusing its offer to investigate whether a journalist was hacked with Graphite spyware, leading to Paragon canceling contracts with Italy’s spy agencies, AISE and AISI.
It’s unclear why Paragon hasn’t responded; the Israeli government may have intervened. In past cases, Israel seized documents from NSO to prevent compliance with a lawsuit against WhatsApp.
Israeli lawyer Eitay Mack mentioned that although Israel has the power to force companies to cooperate with foreign requests, it has never done so. Earlier this year, Spain’s High Court closed an investigation into NSO’s spyware due to a lack of cooperation from Israel.
Paragon, the Israeli embassy in Washington, and the prosecutors in Rome and Naples declined to comment. Unlike other spyware companies, Paragon’s public dispute with a former client over the scandal is rare. Paragon aims to position itself as ethically sound compared to peers like NSO Group or Intellexa, known for numerous scandals.
Paragon’s website claimed to offer clients “ethically based tools, teams, and insights.” Although this scandal marks Paragon’s first public issue, it now holds a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has used Paragon’s spyware for counterterrorism and drug trafficking investigations.
Italy’s government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, denied hacking journalists Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino, whose devices were targeted with Graphite, although Citizen Lab confirmed their phones were hacked. Other targets include activists from Mediterranea Saving Humans, an NGO focused on rescuing migrants at sea.
In June, an Italian parliamentary committee concluded that the activists’ targeting was lawful but found no evidence of targeting Cancellato and did not investigate Pellegrino. In March, prosecutors confirmed Cancellato’s device was hacked, but Pellegrino’s could not be confirmed. The investigation continues.