In the previous year, WhatsApp and Apple alerted several individuals in Italy, including journalists and activists, that they had been subjected to government spyware. Specifically, WhatsApp accused the Israeli American surveillance technology firm Paragon Solutions of providing the technology used in a hacking initiative that affected roughly 90 individuals worldwide with its “Graphite” spyware.

These alerts triggered a scandal in Italy that continues to develop. Following the notifications of the attacks, several victims lodged criminal complaints with Italian officials, leading prosecutors to initiate an investigation. 

Currently, Paragon, despite having previously vowed to assist Italian authorities in probing the scandal, is reportedly not cooperating.

As reported by Wired Italy, Italian prosecutors made a formal inquiry to Paragon, relayed through the Israeli government, but one year after the investigation commenced, the company has yet to provide a response.

After the spyware scandal emerged in Italy, Paragon publicly criticized the Italian government, asserting it declined the company’s offer to investigate whether a journalist had been hacked and monitored using its Graphite spyware. The company even terminated its contract with Italy’s two intelligence agencies, AISE and AISI, partly because the Italian government rejected the offer for assistance.

It is unclear why Paragon has not replied to the prosecutor’s inquiry. One possibility is intervention by the Israeli government. In 2024, The Guardian reported that the Israeli authorities seized documents from NSO’s office to obstruct the company from fulfilling demands in the lawsuit involving WhatsApp.

Israeli human rights attorney Eitay Mack informed Wired Italy that the Israeli government could compel local firms to comply with foreign judicial requests for information, “but this has never occurred.”

Earlier this year, Spain’s High Court concluded its investigation into the use of NSO’s spyware against Spanish politicians, stating that Israeli authorities did not assist with its inquiry.  

Paragon, alongside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., and the prosecutors’ offices in Rome and Naples, which are conducting a joint investigation, did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comments. 

In the realm of government spyware, it is exceedingly rare for a company to publicly feud with one of its former clients. Paragon’s actions likely stem from its ongoing efforts to position itself as a seemingly more ethical alternative to other spyware developers, like NSO Group or Intellexa, which have become embroiled in numerous scandals globally.

So far, Paragon has encountered its first public controversy, but the company currently maintains an active contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been arresting and deporting tens of thousands of immigrants nationwide for over a year. ICE informed lawmakers that its law-enforcement branch, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), is leveraging Paragon’s spyware to address terrorism and drug trafficking.    

The Italian government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has consistently denied hacking two journalists, Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino, associated with the online news platform Fanpage, whose devices were targeted by Paragon’s Graphite. The Citizen Lab, a research organization investigating spyware misuse for more than a decade, affirmed both journalists were indeed hacked using Graphite.

Among the other local victims are activists working for Mediterranea Saving Humans, an Italian nonprofit dedicated to rescuing migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

In June, the Italian parliamentary committee supervising the nation’s intelligence agencies examined the scandal and concluded that the activists’ targeting was legal. However, it also stated that it could not find evidence of Cancellato’s targeting and did not investigate Pellegrino’s case at all. 

Subsequently, in March, the same prosecutors requesting information from Paragon announced in a press release that a forensic investigation into Cancellato’s device verified that his phone had indeed been compromised, while they could not reach the same conclusion regarding Pellegrino’s phone.

The investigation by the prosecutors is still ongoing.