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Paragon Solutions, a startup that sells access to monitoring technologies, including phone spyware, has cut ties with the Italian government, according to reports in Guardian and Haritz.
On Thursday, cited an unknown source, the Guardian newspaper informed that Paraguce suspended her contract with Italy on Friday after he said WhatsApp I have disrupted a breakthrough campaign Take advantage of spyware at the start of Israeli operating targeting about 90 people. On Wednesday, Paraguce ended the contract as soon as the company decided that the Italian government had broken “the conditions of service and the moral framework that he approved under its contract,” according to the British newspaper.
The Israeli newspaper Haritz later confirmed the Guardian report, adding that Paraguce had ended a deal with an Italian government agency – the law enforcement agency and a intelligence agency – and separated its access to the spyware products called graphite, according to the sources of the unknown paper.
The Italian Prime Minister’s office did not respond to the Techcrunch request for comment.
Arturo Di Corinto, at the National Agency for Electronic Treatment in Italy (ACN – Or the National Cyber Security Agency) confirmed to Techcrunch that ACN is in contact with the Meta legal representatives, and that “it analyzes the issue, as you know, very sensitive, given the involvement of a foreign company and the alleged monitoring of A journalist and human rights activist.”
De Coronto told Techcrunch ACN who had no other information.
“I am not talking about our customers and activities,” said Paragon CEO and co -founder IDAN NURICK to Techcrunch, and refused to provide a comment on Italian issues as well as WhatsApp allegations.
Techcrunch also communicates with Paragon John Fleming CEO, who did not respond to a request for comment by the time of the press.
Citizens target dozens of European countries
in statement On Wednesday, the office of Prime Minister Georgia Meloni He refused to participate in the spyware campaign Detected by WhatsApp. The Prime Minister’s Office said that the legally protected materials, including journalists, were not targeted by Italian intelligence services.
After WhatsApp revealed the presence of a spyware campaign, three people claiming to have been targeted. All three criticized the Italian government.
The first victim was Franchisco CNCELlatoNews website manager fanpage.itWhich was published last year Cursed documentary investigation In the youthful wing of the right -wing Miloni party, members who drew racist statements appear, and to repeat Nazi and fascist slogans.
On the same day, a Libyan activist lives in Sweden, Ozam JomatiHe criticized the Italian and Libyan government’s transactions to prevent immigrants from crossing the Mediterranean, and said he had received a notification from WhatsApp, informing him that he was targeted.
On Wednesday, Luka Kasarini, co -founder of The Mediterranean Sea Save humansShe also said a non -governmental organization that helps migrants, and he was targeted.
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More victims are likely to be revealed soon, not only in Italy. The Italian government said it had contacted WhatsApp to inquire about the company’s demands, and that the company owned by the description said that among the goals there are users of the phone in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Latvia and Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
None of the governments of these country, which are contacted either through its American embassies or other government agencies, responded to the requests of Techcrunch to comment.
On Tuesday, Paragon Fleming Techcrunch said that the company is calculating the United States government and “allies” as not specified as customers. EURACTIV mentioned Thursday that the company has a subsidiary in Hamburg, Germany.
Fellang also told Techcrunch that Paragon “requires all users to agree to the conditions and conditions that explicitly prohibit the illegal targeting of journalists and other civil society figures.”
“We have a policy that carries zero against such targeting and we will see our relationship with any customer who violates our service conditions,” Fleming said.
It appears that in the case of its Italian clients, Parajon continued its policy.
