Paragon Solutions, an Israeli spyware manufacturer, has confirmed to TechCrunch that it provides its technology to the U.S. government and other unnamed allied nations.
On Tuesday, Paragon’s executive chairman, John Fleming, told TechCrunch, “Paragon licenses its technology to a carefully chosen group of global democracies, primarily the United States and its allies.”
Fleming added that Paragon “requires all users to accept terms and conditions that strictly ban the unlawful targeting of journalists and other members of civil society. Our policy is one of zero tolerance towards such actions, and we will end our partnership with any customer who breaches these terms.”
These statements came in light of WhatsApp’s allegation last Friday, claiming that Paragon’s spyware was employed in a hacking operation aimed at approximately 90 journalists and civil society leaders. Since then, at least two people have reported being among the targets: Italian journalist Francesco Cancellato and Libyan activist Husam El Gomati.
Fleming did not address specific inquiries, including those regarding Paragon’s identification of U.S. allies and democracies, the details of its prohibitions on targeting journalists in its terms of service, the company’s investigation of alleged abuses like those indicated by WhatsApp, or whether Paragon has ever terminated clients due to such violations.
Wired initially reported last year that Paragon’s U.S. subsidiary had secured a $2 million contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but the company declined to comment at that time.
Last year, AE Industrial, a U.S. private equity firm, attempted to acquire Paragon for approximately $900 million. Matt Conroy, a spokesperson for AE Industrial, did not provide comments and redirected inquiries to Paragon.
WhatsApp announced on Friday that it had issued a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon. Fleming chose not to comment regarding this letter.
Cancellato, who is the director of the news site Fanpage.it, conducted an investigation last year into the “Gioventù Meloniana,” the youth branch of the Fratelli d’Italia party, which is led by the current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who took office in 2022. Through undercover video footage, Fanpage revealed that several members of the “Gioventù Meloniana” made racist and antisemitic comments, used offensive slurs, and shouted slogans supporting Nazi ideology and the pro-fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. This investigation prompted criticism from opposition parties directed at Meloni.
“I feel violated,” stated Cancellato, reflecting on the discovery that his phone had been targeted. “You begin to wonder, why me? What did they want from me?”
Although El Gomati resides in Sweden, he is originally Libyan and has voiced criticism of the ties between the Italian and Libyan governments, especially their cooperation aimed at preventing Libyan migrants from crossing the Mediterranean to reach Italy.
According to Ynetnews, Italy is reportedly a client of Paragon. However, this claim has yet to be confirmed.
Fleming did not respond when asked whether Italy is indeed a customer of Paragon, nor did the Italian government react to requests for comments from TechCrunch.
Compiled by Techarena.au.
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