Italy has terminated a contract with Israeli spyware maker Paragon, a parliamentary document showed on Monday, following allegations that the Italian government used its technology to hack critics’ phones. Paragon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Meta’s WhatsApp chat service said earlier this year Paragon spyware had targeted scores of users, including a journalist and members of the Mediterranea migrant sea rescue charity critical of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The government said in February that seven mobile phone users in Italy had been targeted by the spyware. Rome denied any involvement in illicit activities and said it had asked the National Cybersecurity Agency to look into the affair.
Read more…
Source: MSN News
Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.
Related:
- 12 senior Indonesian officials targeted by NSO software
September 30, 2022
More than 12 senior Indonesian military and government officials were targeted by software developed by Israeli cyber company NSO Group, Ynet reported on Thursday night, citing sources familiar with the matter, six of whom were interviewed by Reuters and said they had also been targeted by the software. The officials include Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs ...
- Witchetty: Group Uses Updated Toolset in Attacks on Governments in Middle East
September 29, 2022
The Witchetty espionage group (aka LookingFrog) has been progressively updating its toolset, using new malware in attacks on targets in the Middle East and Africa. Among the new tools being used by the group is a backdoor Trojan (Backdoor.Stegmap) that employs steganography, a rarely seen technique where malicious code is hidden within an image. In attacks ...
- Greece wiretap and spyware claims circle around PM Mitsotakis
September 8, 2022
It has been dubbed the Greek Watergate. What began as a surveillance of a little-known journalist in Greece has evolved into an array of revelations circling around the Greek government. The story emerged last spring, when Thanasis Koukakis found out his phone had been infected with spyware that can extract data from a device. He also ...
- British judge rules dissident can sue Saudi Arabia for Pegasus hacking
August 19, 2022
A British judge has ruled that a case against the kingdom of Saudi Arabia brought by a dissident satirist who was targeted with spyware can proceed, a decision that has been hailed as precedent-setting and one that could allow other hacking victims in Britain to sue foreign governments who order such attacks. The case against Saudi ...
- Apple introduces Lockdown Mode to protect iPhones from state-sponsored hacking
July 6, 2022
Apple announced a new feature for iPhones called Lockdown Mode on Wednesday to protect high-profile users such as politicians and activists against state-sponsored hackers. Lockdown Mode turns off several features on the iPhone in order to make it less vulnerable to spyware by significantly reducing the number of features that attackers can access and potentially hack. Specifically, ...
- Spyware vendor targets users in Italy and Kazakhstan
June 23, 2022
Google has been tracking the activities of commercial spyware vendors for years, and taking steps to protect people. Just last week, Google testified at the EU Parliamentary hearing on “Big Tech and Spyware” about the work we have done to monitor and disrupt this thriving industry. Seven of the nine zero-day vulnerabilities our Threat Analysis Group ...