WhatsApp and Apple notified Italian journalists and activists that they had been targeted by Graphite spyware, developed by Israeli-American company Paragon Solutions. The case turned into a political scandal in Italy, with several victims filing criminal complaints and prosecutors launching formal investigations.
Italian prosecutors sent a formal request for information to Paragon through the Israeli government, but a year later the company has still not responded, going back on its earlier promises to cooperate. Ironically, Paragon had previously cancelled its contracts with Italian intelligence agencies, claiming the government refused to let it investigate the case itself.
The silence may have Israel's hand behind it: an Israeli human rights lawyer stated that the Israeli government could force local companies to comply with foreign judicial requests, but that this has never actually happened. Meanwhile, Paragon holds an active contract with the American ICE, which uses the company's spyware in drug trafficking and counterterrorism cases.
WhatsApp and Apple notified Italian journalists and activists that they had been targeted by Graphite spyware, developed by Israeli-American company Paragon Solutions. The case turned into a political scandal in Italy, with several victims filing criminal complaints and prosecutors launching formal investigations. Italian prosecutors sent a formal request for information to Paragon through the Israeli government, but a year later the company has still not responded, going back on its earlier promises to cooperate. Ironically, Paragon had previously cancelled its contracts with Italian intelligence agencies, claiming the government refused to let it investigate the case itself. The silence may have Israel's hand behind it: an Israeli human rights lawyer stated that the Israeli government could force local companies to comply with foreign judicial requests, but that this has never actually happened. Meanwhile, Paragon holds an active contract with the American ICE, which uses the company's spyware in drug trafficking and counterterrorism cases.