Italian political consultant says he was targeted with Paragon spyware

Francesco Nicodemo, a consultant who works with left-wing politicians in Italy, has come forward as the latest person to be targeted with the Paragon spyware in the country.

On Thursday, Nicodemus he said in a Facebook post that for 10 months, he preferred not to make his case public because he “didn’t want it to be used for political propaganda”, but now “the time has come”.

“It is time to ask a very simple question: Why? Why me? How could such a sophisticated and sophisticated tool be used to spy on a private individual, as if he were a drug dealer or a subversive threat to the country?” wrote Nicodemus. “I have nothing more to say. Others must speak. Others must explain what happened.”

Fanpage online news site first reported the news that Nicodemo was among the people who received a WhatsApp notification in January.

The revelation that Nicodemo was targeted with Paragon spyware widens the scope — once again — of the ongoing spyware scandal in Italy, which has ensnared many victims from various positions in society: several journalists, immigration activists, prominent business executives and now a political consultant with a history of work for the center-left party (Democratic Partito) and Partitomo.

Governments and spyware manufacturers have long claimed that their surveillance products are used against serious criminals and terrorists, but these recent cases show that this is not always true.

“The Italian government has provided clarity on some spyware targets and explained the cases. But others remain worryingly unclear,” said John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, who has been investigating spyware companies and their abuses for years, including some involving the use of Paragon spyware.

“None of this looks good for Paragon or for Italy. That’s why clarity from the Italian government is so important. I think if they wanted to, Paragon could give everyone a lot more clarity about what’s going on. Until they do, these cases will remain a burden on their necks,” said Scott-Railton, who confirmed that Nicodemo had not received Nicodemo.

Natale De Gregorio, who works with Nicodemo at PR firm Lievito Consulting, told TechCrunch in an email that Nicodemo didn’t want to comment beyond what he said on his Fanpage and public Facebook post.

At this point, it is unclear which of Paragon’s clients targeted Nicodemo, but an Italian parliamentary committee confirmed in June that some of the victims in Italy were targeted by Italian intelligence services, which are under the purview of right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

A spokesman for the Italian prime minister’s office did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Jennifer Iras, the vice president of marketing for REDLattice, a cybersecurity company that merged with Paragon after the Israeli spyware maker was acquired by U.S. private equity giant AE Industrial, also did not respond to a request for comment.

In February, following the revelations of the first wave of victims in Italy, Paragon severed relations with its government clients in Italy, specifically the intelligence agencies AISE and AISI.

Later in June, Italy’s Parliamentary Commission for the Security of the Republic, known as COPASIR, concluded that some of the publicly identified victims of Paragon’s spyware, namely immigration activists, were legitimately hacked by Italian intelligence services.

COPASIR, however, said there was no evidence that Francesco Cancellato, its director Fanpage.itan Italian news website that surveyed the youth of Italy’s far-right ruling party, led by Meloni, had been targeted by one of Italy’s intelligence agencies, AISI and AISE.

COPASIR also did not investigate the case of Cancellato’s colleague Ciro Pellegrino.

Paragon, which told TechCrunch that the US government is one of its customers, has an active contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.