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On Friday, 2:00 pm, Francesco Cancelto got an ominous notice on his cellphone while he was at home near Milan.
“This is a message from WhatsApp,” Read the Italian message received by Techchen. “In December, WhatsApp prevents a spyware organization activities that we believe that your device has attacked. Our investigations indicate that you have received a harmful file via WhatsApp and the spyware can access your data with the messages stored on the device. ”
“We have changed this specific attack again. However, the operating system of your device may compromise because of the spyware, “the message has continued.
Cancelto is the goal of achieving the first goal after the publication of a hacking promotion using spyware created by Paragon Solutions, Such as WhatsApp claimed on FridayThe
At that time, WhatsApp said that about 90 people, including journalists like Cancelto and civil society members, were noticed in the spread of spying.
“I feel in violation,” Canceleto told TechCrunch, who said that at the beginning he thought this message was a scandal or joke. “You always think that a journalist can be wired or spying, but you do it more than your own parania and to reveal the truth you can be. When someone tells you it is true, you don’t believe it, you always think it is something else. “
Then, he said that he realized it was real. “You ask yourself, why me? This thing, I mean, what do they want from me? “
“This is the first question, the second question what did they take from me? Where did they go? What did they do to me? Once they got up on my phone, where basically my whole life, my holiday, my friendship, my family, my bank password, there is everything – my work thing, “Kanslato said.” And then who did the third question? “
Cancelet Fanpage.ITWhich is an Italian news website Known to investigate Corruption, organized crime, Catholic Church and Youth wing Prime Minister Georgigia Meloni led the far -right ruling party in Italy.
For him Multi-Part Investigation Last year, Fanpage sent journalists secretly for the “Geovant Meloniana” infiltration, a group that was part of the Fretilly de Italia party in Meloni, which ruled Italy since 2022. The investigation showed the comments described in the video of several team members against Jews and blacks. People, the N-word and the Nazi slogans, and sing about fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
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Do you have more information about Paragon and this spyware promotion? From a non-work device, you can contact Lorenzo Francesi-BICCichiyrai to +1 917 257 1382 at the signal or telegram and kibes @Lorenzfby, or through E -mailThe You can contact TechCrunch through SecuredropThe
Canceleto said he had decided Come out publicly Because, as a journalist, his job is to report the news. However, he said he did not want to guess who was behind it. At this point, there are many answers to a lot of questions. His phone was truly hacked or failed, including what hackers were and who ordered the attack.
WhatsApp says the hacking campaign was run by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli government spyware manufacturer that sells a product for spying in encrypted applications, such as WhatsApp and Signal, Graphite, Forbes have been reported in 2021 asThe
A spokesperson for WhatsApp did not respond to any request to comment that the company could confirm whether the cancelot was aim.
Guardian According to a person close to the organization, it is said that Paragon Solutions sold his products to clients of 35 democratic government. And Israeli News Outlet YeatNews Report Monday that Italy is a paragon customer.
Monday, The Guardian Report Sweden -based Libyan worker Husam El Gomati was notified as one of the goals of hacking by WhatsApp. L goma Spoke Criticism Italy’s relations with Libya, especially an agreement between the two countries, prevent immigrants from crossing the Mediterranean.
The TechCrunch did not get any response after contacting the Meloni Press Office chief Fabricio Alfono through email and WhatsApp after contacting the Email and WhatsApp of the Italian government’s press office.
Paragon Solutions have gained fame for becoming a responsible surveillance technology dealer. On its official websiteThe agency says “it provides moral -based equipment, teams and insights to disrupt our customers’ continuous threat.”
The source of an anonymous paragon solution Told New Yorker In September last year, the company had a contract with the use of US immigration and tariffs as a result of a test process where the company showed that it showed that it could prevent other countries against Americans, but the US government is not
Paragon Was earned in December 2024 American Private Equity Giants by this industry partners.
Paragon Solutions did not respond to any request for making the industrial comments.
In a WhatsApp message to Cancelto, he was suggested that he could contact the Citizen Lab of a digital rights group at the University of Toronto, which has been abused by Ethiopia, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Spain around the world around the world around the world.
Canceleto, who said that he and the fanpage were contacted by the fanpage authorities, told TechCrunch that he “did what the message did to me did.”
“Spying in Western democracy for a journalist is actually strange,” Canceleto added that the phone that was targeted was his company’s device, so “it is an attack on the fanpage, it is not an attack on me.”
