Paragon spyware deployed against journalists and activists, Citizen Lab claims

Infosec newsbytes Israeli spyware maker Paragon Solutions pitches its tools as helping governments and law enforcement agencies to catch criminals and terrorists, but a fresh Citizen Lab report claims its software has been used to target journalists, activists, and other civilians. Paragon Solutions was co-founded in 2019 by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Ehud Schneorson, a former commander of signals intelligence agency Unit 8200. Its flagship spyware, Graphite, is pitched as a more restrained alternative to NSO Group's Pegasus, as it allows surveillance of messaging apps without taking full control of a target's phone, according to the lab's write-up. Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, Canada, shared technical details of Paragon's infrastructure with Meta so that WhatsApp could identify and block a zero-click exploit used by Paragon to inject its spyware into a victim's device without that target having to touch anything. WhatsApp later notified 90 or so users, including journalists and civil society members, who were believed to have been targeted with Paragon's spyware. "For journalists, human rights defenders, academics, and other members of civil society, we strongly recommend working with trusted experts to counter the risk of such attacks," the Meta business unit warned. Citizen Lab identified several Italian WhatsApp users targeted by Paragon's spyware, including Francesco Cancellato, editor-in-chief of investigative outlet Fanpage.it. Luca Casar...