Spyware maker cuts ties with Italy after government refused audit into hack of journalist’s phone

[kevpham@discuss.privacyguides.net]

https://therecord.media/paragon-spyware-maker-cuts-ties-italy-government

In a shocking first, Paragon has cut off ties with the Italian government after a special government committee essentially investigated themselves and concluded that no government spyware was used in the hacking of an Italian journalist. This comes after the same body refused to allow the spyware company to independently verify this conclusion.

The spyware manufacturer Paragon said Monday that it has ended its contract with Italy because a special government committee investigating alleged abuses there declined to let the company independently verify that Italian authorities did not hack into the phone of a well-known journalist.

"The company offered both the Italian government and parliament a way to determine whether its system had been used against the journalist," Paragon said in a statement issued to the Israeli publication Haaretz. Because Italian authorities “chose not to proceed with this solution, Paragon terminated its contracts in Italy,” the company said.

Last Wednesday, the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (COPASIR) approved its report, which acknowledged that Italian foreign and domestic intelligence services used Paragon’s spyware product, Graphite, to target phones belonging to civil society activists.

The committee found no evidence the surveillance technology was used against journalist Francesco Cancellato, the report said. Cancellato — known for an investigative report documenting ties between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and young Italian fascists — is among about 90 WhatsApp users who Meta notified about spyware targeting in January.

COPASIR said it searched the intelligence agencies’ databases for Cancellato’s number and did not find it. The report also said there is no evidence that Italian officials asked for permission to spy on Cancellato.

A spyware manufacturer has never before publicly acknowledged terminating a contract with a government client due to abuse.