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   Israeli spyware company confirms US government and friends are customers   
      
   Date:   
   Wed, 05 Feb 2025 13:10:00 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Israeli spyware company Paragon says the US government is a customer, shortly   
   after it was called out by WhatsApp for targeting journalists.   
      
   FULL STORY   
   ======================================================================   
    - The US government has been confirmed as a Paragon customer   
    - Paragon was recently accused of targeting journalists by WhatsApp   
    - Paragon "explicitly prohibit(s)" the targeting of journalists   
      
   Notorious Israeli spyware manufacturing company Paragon Solutions has   
   confirmed the US government is a purchaser of its products.    
      
   Speaking to TechCrunch , Paragons executive chairman John Fleming said,   
   Paragon licenses its technology to a select group of global democracies   
   principally, the United States and its allies.   
      
   The confirmation comes days after WhatsApp revealed Paragon had attempted to   
   illegally install its spyware on the devices of up to 90 journalists and   
   members of civil society through a zero-click deployment.   
      
   Paragon prohibits targeting journalists, does it anyway   
      
   Fleming's statement continued, saying Paragon, requires that all users agree   
   to terms and conditions that explicitly prohibit the illicit targeting of   
   journalists and other civil society figures. We have a zero-tolerance policy   
   against such targeting and will terminate our relationship with any customer   
   that violates our terms of service.    
      
    TechCrunch said Fleming did not respond to a number of other questions, such   
   as who Paragon considers as a US ally, and the specifics on the terms of   
   service regarding the targeting of journalists, among other targeted    
   questions about the accusations made by WhatsApp, and if Paragon investigates   
   allegations of abuse or had severed a contract because of violations.    
      
   Two of the journalists targeted in the WhatsApp campaign have come forward.   
   Italian journalist Francesco Cancellato, director of Fanpage.it, which   
   published undercover video recordings of the youth wing of Italys ruling   
   party, Fratelli dItalia, making racist and anti-semitic remarks, and chanting   
   Nazi and pro-fascist slogans of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.    
      
   Libyan activist Husam El Gomati, who is based in Sweden, has criticized   
   efforts made between the Italian and Libyan governments to stop Libyan   
   immigrants from crossing into Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. Both   
   Cancellato and Gomati confirmed they had been targeted by Paragon in the   
   spyware attack.   
      
   Via TechCrunch   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/israeli-spyware-company-confirms-us-gov   
   ernment-and-friends-are-customers   
      
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