Paragon spyware used to target citizens across Europe, says Italian government

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Paragon spyware used to target citizens across Europe, says Italian government

The Italian government said in a press release on Wednesday that a spyware campaign revealed by WhatsApp, and carried out with spyware made by Paragon Solutions, targeted people across several countries in Europe.

The government, led by far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni, denied being behind the targeting of Italian citizens Francesco Cancellato, a journalist who heads the news website Fanpage.it, and Luca Casarini, an activist who works for Mediterranea Saving Humans, a non-government organization that helps immigrants.

In the release, the government said that its defensive cybersecurity organization, the Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale (ACN — or National Cybersecurity Agency), contacted WhatsApp and its law firm Advant, which told the authorities that there are seven mobile phone users in Italy who were targeted in the spyware campaign. WhatsApp declined to provide the identities of the targets, citing privacy concerns, the government’s statement read.

WhatsApp also said that there are mobile phone users in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, based on their country phone codes, according to the Italian government’s statement.

WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a request for comment, asking to confirm the number of targets in Italy, the countries mentioned by the Italian government, and the other claims attributed to WhatsApp by the Italian government.

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