Italian businessman’s phone reportedly targeted with Paragon spyware

A salient Italian businessman was targeted with Paragon spyware, according to section quality reports.

On Thursday, Italian online investigative website IrpiMedia and paper La Stampa reported that Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone was among around 90 radical who received a notification from WhatsApp successful January, alerting him that helium had been targeted with spyware made by Paragon Solutions. 

It’s not instantly wide for what crushed Caltagirone was targeted, and a spokesperson for his holding company, Caltagirone SpA, did not respond to a petition for comment.

Caltagirone’s namesake holding institution owns respective firms crossed antithetic industries, including construction, existent estate, finance, and publishing, which includes Italian paper Il Messaggero. 

Caltagirone becomes the archetypal businessman to beryllium added to the database of Paragon victims successful Italy. So far, the different victims see journalists Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino, who enactment for online quality tract Fanpage; and migration activists Luca Casarini and Giuseppe Caccia, who enactment for Mediterranea Saving Humans, an Italian non-government enactment that helps rescue immigrants successful the Mediterranean sea. 

The alleged targeting of Caltagirone present widens the ongoing Paragon spyware ungraded successful Italy to victims beyond journalists and activists. Following the reports of the Fanpage journalists being targeted, Paragon chopped ties with the Italian government, whose quality agencies were its customers. 

Paragon, which has agelong claimed to beryllium an “ethical” spyware maker, is headquartered successful Israel, and was bought by U.S. backstage equity elephantine AE Industrial successful December 2024. As portion of the deal, Paragon was reportedly going to merge with cybersecurity steadfast REDLattice. 

When TechCrunch reached retired to Paragon for remark successful September regarding the company’s declaration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a institution spokesperson referred questions to REDLattice’s vice president of selling Jennifer Iras, indicating that the merger whitethorn person been finalized.

Paragon and WhatsApp did not respond to a petition for comment.