Paragon Solutions

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.