The Italian government said in a press release On Wednesday that a spyware campaign was revealed by Whatsapp and was held by Spyware made by Paragon Solutions, targeting people in various European countries.
The government led by far -right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni refused to be behind the targeting of Italian citizens Francesco Cancellato, a journalist who is head of the news website Fanpage.itand Luca Casarini, an activist that works Mediterranean saving peopleA non -governmental organization that helps immigrants.
In liberation, the government stated that its defensive organization in cyberspace, Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale (ACN – or the National Cyber Service) contacted WhatsApp and its law firms, which stated to authorities that there were seven mobile phone users in Italy, aimed at the Spyware campaign. WhatsApp has refused to provide the identities of the goals that are concerned about privacy, the government’s statement.
WhatsApp also said there are mobile phone users in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, Based on their phone codes, according to the Italian government.
WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a request for comments, demanding that it confirm the number of targets in Italy, the countries mentioned by the Italian government and the other claims attributed to WhatsApp by the Italian government.
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The Italian government’s statement arrives days after WhatsApp said it had disturbed a spyware campaign aimed at about 90 users in over two dozen countries, including several in Europe.
From Wednesday, Cancellato, Casarini and a Sweden -based Libyan activist Husam El GomitiWho criticizes the activities of the Italian and Libyan governments against immigrants to the Mediterranean Sea, coming forward saying they were targets of the Spyware campaign.
Paragon told TechCrunch on Tuesday that she is selling her surveillance technology to the US government and other unspecified “allies”.
The company also stated that “it requires all users to agree on terms and conditions that explicitly prohibit the illegal targeting of journalists and other elements of civil society”, adding that it has “zero tolerance policy” against such targeting. The Spyware manufacturer said it would “end our relationship with any customer” that violates the terms of service.
Fleming and Paragon have not responded to commentary requests for this article, asking to confirm or refuse whether the countries mentioned by the Italian government are indeed Paragon customers.
Italy’s ACN, as well as the prime minister’s office, did not respond to a request for comments.
