Another person allegedly aimed at Whatsapp with the spyware made by Israeli Paragon has come forward.
Beppe Caccia, one of his co -founders Mediterranean saving peopleAn Italian non -governmental organization that helps immigrants, told TechCrunch that it was aiming for the Spyware campaign.
Caccia revealed that he was targeting after another of his organization’s co -founders, Luca Casarini, publicly said last week that he had also received a notice from Whatsapp warned him of the suspicious Spyware attack.
On Monday, during a press conference organized by Sandro Ruotolo, an Italian member of the European Parliament, Casarini said he filed a complaint to the prosecutor’s office in Palermo, Italy about the alleged hack. Casarini said his goal was to find out who was aiming for him and his organization.
“We have nothing to hide. Those who spy on have a lot to hide, “Casarini said.
Before Caccia, three other people have also come ahead by saying that they received a notice from Whatsapp to be among the about 90 people targeting Spyware made by Paragon. The other three victims include Francesco Cancellato, the Director of the News Website Fanpage.it; Libyan activist Husam El Gomitiwho lives in Sweden and works on immigration on Italy and Libya. and casarini.
The news of the Spyware campaign broke on January 31, when Whatsapp said he had disturbed the campaign and alerted about 90 people targeted. WhatsApp was not attributed to a particular government campaign, nor did Paragon revealed which government client was behind the campaign.
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The Italian government refused to participate in the hacking campaign. In a press release, the office of the Italian prime minister said that legal protected issues, including journalists, do not target Italian intelligence services.
In the same press release, the Italian government said that Meta said there were other targets in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
In addition to Austria, none of the governments of these countries, either through their US embassies or through other government bodies, responded to TechCrunch’s requests for comments.
A spokesman for the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior told TechCrunch that Paragon attacks are known to its local authorities, but also refused to provide more information.
During the same press conference held by Casarini on Monday, David JabioThe co -founder of NGO based in Italy Refugees in LibyaHe said he had also targeted a spyware campaign. Yambio said he was not targeted through Whatsapp but said The guardian That Apple informed him of a “Spyware Mercenary attack” on November 13.
At this point, it is not clear if Yambio was part of the same hacking campaign as those aimed at Paragon’s Spyware.
Neither Paragon nor a spokesman for the Italian government responded to TechCrunch’s requests for comments.
