Paragon Solutions

Paragon Solutions' U.S. subsidiary signed a $2 million, one-year contract with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations division in September 2024 for its Graphite spyware, awarded non-competitively as a 'unique' capability. DHS issued a stop-work order in October 2024 pending White House review of compliance with Executive Order 14093, which restricts U.S. government use of commercial spyware over human-rights concerns. On August 30, 2025, under the Trump administration, ICE lifted the stop-work order and reactivated the contract, per federal procurement records first reported by journalist Jack Poulson and confirmed by TechCrunch. The reactivation came after WhatsApp's January 2025 disclosure that roughly 90 Graphite targets worldwide, including journalists and human-rights workers, were spied on, and after Paragon terminated Italy's government contract when Graphite was found targeting Italian journalists and migrant-rescue activists. Congressional Democrats (Sens. Peters and Wyden, Rep. Casar) subsequently sought records on how ICE acquired and uses the tool; no compliance determination under EO 14093 has been published, and DHS's Privacy Office - which would have reviewed the tool - was dissolved in a March 2025 reduction in force.

Citizen Lab's March 2025 forensic report identified Paragon Solutions' Graphite spyware infrastructure operating in 12 jurisdictions including Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. While Paragon publicly marketed itself as selling only to democracies and committing to no targeting of journalists or civil society, Citizen Lab's evidence raised questions about how those commitments were enforced. Paragon disputed some findings.

In February 2025 WhatsApp and forensic researchers at Citizen Lab disclosed that Paragon Solutions' Graphite spyware had been deployed against approximately 90 WhatsApp users worldwide, with confirmed Italian targets including investigative journalist Francesco Cancellato, head of the migrant-rescue NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans Luca Casarini, and activists working with refugees crossing the Mediterranean. Paragon, which had marketed Graphite as a 'responsible' alternative to NSO's Pegasus and was acquired by US PE firm AE Industrial Partners in 2024, publicly stated it had terminated its contract with Italy after the Italian government refused an audit. Italy denied authorizing targeting of journalists.