A senior executive at chat service WhatsApp alleged that Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions attempted to breach the devices of 90 users including journalists, "Reuters" reports. Paragon declined to comment on the report.
WhatsApp said that it had sent Paragon a "cease and desist" warning letter following the alleged attempted breach. WhatsApp said it, "will continue to protect people's ability to communicate privately."
WhatsApp declined to provide details on who specifically was targeted. However, the chat service did tell "Reuters" that those targeted were based in more than two dozen countries, including several people in Europe. The senior WhatsApp executive added that the users were sent malicious electronic documents that required no user interaction to compromise their targets, a so-called zero-click hack that is considered particularly stealthy.
Last year US private equity fund AE Industrial Partners acquired the Israeli cyberattack company for an estimated $900 million. Paragon was founded by former 8200 commander, Brigadier General (res.) Ehud Schneorson, and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Paragon has developed a Trojan horse software called Graphite, which is able to extract intelligence data from encrypted chat apps, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Signal or Telegram. Unlike other cyberattack companies such as NSO and Candira, it was founded with US funding from the outset to operate in only 34 democratic countries, in coordination with local security authorities and legal systems, in order to make minimal use of privacy intrusion.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 2, 2025.
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