Almost 100 journalists and other members of the civil society that use the popular messaging app owned by META are spyware owned by Paragon Solutions, a manufacturer of Israel’s hacking software, which was filed on Friday. I made it a target.
Journalists and other members of other civil society were warned of the possibility of device violations. WhatsApp states that 90 users in question are targeted and that they may be compromised.
It is not clear who was behind the attack. Like other spyware makers, the paragon hacking software was used by the government client, and whatSapp could not identify the client who ordered suspected attacks.
Experts said that targeting was a “zero click” attack. In other words, the target would not have needed to click on malicious links to get infected.
WhatsApp has refused to disclose where journalists and civil society members are based in the United States.
Palagon has a US office in Virginia’s Cantyie. The company has been facing a recent scrutiny after WIRED MAGAZINE has signed a contract of $ 2 million with a US land security investigation department of US immigration customs facilities.
It is reported that the category has issued a contract suspension work order to confirm whether the Federal Government has restricted the use of spyware by the Biden administration. The Trump administration has canceled the number of Biden administration’s presidential orders in the first two weeks of his inauguration, but the 2023 order, which banned the use of spyware, which is risky to national security, is still valid.
WhatsApp told the paragon that they had sent a letter “Stop, abolished” and that they were searching for legal options. WhatsApp stated that the suspicion of the attack was confused in December, and it was not clear how the target was exposed to the target.
The company is currently notifying the victims of hacking from WhatsApp.
“WhatsApp has confused the spyware campaign by PARAGON for many users, including journalists and civil society members, and we have reached out directly to those who seem to have been influenced. This is. Companies in charge of the company that spyware companies must be responsible for illegal actions. Ta.
Paragon Solutions refused to comment.
People near the company have 35 government customers in the paragon, and some of them have been accused of spyware before, as all of them may be considered democratic. He told the Guardian that he was not doing business with a country, including democracy. He said that it contains Greece, Poland, Hungary, Mexico and India.
Paragon’s spyware is known as a graphite and has a function comparable to NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware. When a mobile phone is infected with a graphite, spyware operators can read the message sent through encrypted applications such as WhatsApp or Signal, and can be fully accessible to the phone.
Former Prime Minister Israel, Efd Barak, has recently been subject to Israel’s media report after the group was sold to a private equity company in the United States for $ 900 million.
According to the report, the transaction has not yet been approved by Israel. Cyberwear pongs like graphite and Pegasus are regulated by the Israeli Ministry. Guardian contacted the AE Industrial Partner based in Vocalaton, Florida. Paragon is not listed on the company’s investment on the website.
“For a while, Paragon had a reputation for a” better “spyware company, which was not related to obvious abuse, suggesting that the recent revelation of Whatsapp is not. This is not just a bad apple problem. These types of abuse are the characteristics of the commercial spyware industry. “
HeTSAPP believes that the so -called vector or the means of infection to users is through a malicious PDF file sent to the individuals added to the group chat. WhatsApp said that you can say “confidence” that the paragon is linked to this targeting.
John Scott Lilton, a senior researcher at the Toronto University Citizens’ Research Institute, which tracks digital threats to civil society, is used by the Civil Research Institute for company users. He said he provided some information to understand the vector. 。
The group plans to publish future reports that provide details on the target suspicion.
WhatsApp announced a few weeks after a California judge decided the company’s favor in a groundbreaking case to the NSO Group. This is a hot spyware maker that was placed on a blacklist of the Ministry of Commerce by Biden Administration in 2021. At that time, the Biden administration stated that the company had NSO on the so -called entity list because the company was engaged in activities “contrary to the interests of the United States’ national security or foreign policy.”
NSO is a lobby activity so that members of the parliament will be removed from the list.
WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against NSO in 2019 after 1,400 users were infected with the company Spyware. In December, Judge Philis Hamilton determined that NSO was responsible for the attack and that NSO had violated the state and the federal US hacking method and whatSApp’s own terms of use.
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Stephanie.kirchgaessner@theguardian.com
