Italian prosecutors probe Paragon over Graphite spyware targeting journalists and activists

Paragon faces questions after WhatsApp and Apple alerted dozens of Italians to Graphite intrusions, while prosecutors await company responses and gather further evidence.

As informed by Techcrunch

Last year, WhatsApp and Apple informed several people in Italy, among them journalists and activists, that they had been targeted with the government spyware Graphite.

In particular, WhatsApp accused Paragon Solutions of providing the technology for a hacking campaign that affected around 90 people worldwide.

The disclosures led to widespread outcry: after this, the victims filed criminal complaints with the Italian prosecutor’s office, and an investigation began.

According to Wired Italy, Italian prosecutors sent Paragon a formal information request via Israeli authorities, but a year into the investigation the company had not yet responded.

Subsequently Paragon stated that the Italian government had rejected their offer to help investigate the case and had scrapped the contract with AISE and AISI partly due to the government’s refusal.

It remains unclear why Paragon did not respond to the prosecutors’ request. There may have been influence from the Israeli government. In 2024 The Guardian reported that Israeli authorities seized documents from the NSO offices to thwart a lawsuit against WhatsApp.

“The Israeli government can compel local companies to cooperate with foreign requests for information, but this has never happened.”

Earlier this year the Spanish Supreme Court closed its investigation into the use of NSO spyware against Spanish politicians due to a lack of cooperation with Israeli authorities.

In Italy, the government led by Giorgia Meloni denies that it hacked two journalists Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino, who work for Fanpage, and whether their phones were hacked by Graphite. Citizen Lab confirmed the hacking of both journalists.

Other victims in Italy include Mediterranea Saving Humans, a nonprofit organization that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean.

In June last year, Italy’s parliamentary committee that oversees the intelligence services investigated the scandal and concluded that targeting activists was legal, but could not confirm that Cancellato was deliberately hacked; no investigation was conducted regarding Pellegrino.

In March of the same year the prosecutors stated in a press release that the forensic examination of Cancellato’s device confirmed the hacking of his phone, while no conclusion could be drawn regarding Pellegrino. The investigation continues.

The status of the investigation remains open, and Paragon has a current contract with US ICE, which is used by law enforcement agencies to counter terrorism and crime.

The Paragon case in Italy is still being investigated, and investigators are gathering evidence and checking whether surveillance and privacy laws were violated.

Overall, the case continues to draw public and human rights organizations’ attention, because it concerns privacy and compliance with surveillance laws within operations involving spyware.

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