WhatsApp has accused Spyware Company Paragon to target journalists The encrypted Messaging -App disturbed the campaign in December 2024 A cease-and-desist letter has been issued to the paragon of whatsapp
WhatsApp has revealed that it has disturbed a spyware -hacking campaign targeting journalists and prominent members of civil society.
The spyware in question belongs to Paragon, a commercial spyware company founded by former Israeli intelligence officers, as Meta-owned WhatsApp has directly implicated in the campaign.
WhatsApp says that approx. 90 of its users were targeted with malicious PDF files where the victims were notified of the trial and a cessation-and-desist letter was issued to Paragon.
Paragon caught targeted journalists
According to WhatsApp, the campaign was discovered in December 2024 and did not require users to open the PDF attachment and acted as a ‘zero-click’ implementation method.
“This is the latest example of why spyware companies should be held responsible for their illegal actions. WhatsApp will continue to protect people’s ability to communicate privately, ”said WhatsApp -talman Zade Alsawah (via Techcrunch ).
WhatsApp has not said where the victims of the campaign were based and were unable to decide when the campaign started.
By 2024, US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) signed a $ 2 million contract with Paragon, which included a “fully configured proprietary solution including license, hardware, warranty, maintenance and training,” federal documents said.
Although this is the first time Paragon has been implicated in a spyware campaign, several other commercial spyware has been involved in illegal operations.
Israeli Spyware company NSO Group is currently at the intersection of a Polish government survey of the implementation of Pegasus Spyware on thousands of opposition government units.
At the beginning of 2024, WhatsApp won a federal court match to see the source code for NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware after the company was accused of implementing spyware of 1,400 mobile devices for a two -week period in 2019.
“Based on Meta’s review, this spyware campaign was another precise attack that targeted people with highly valued access or contacts,” noted Adam Boynton, Senior Security Security Strategy Manager Emeia at Jamf. “When spyware strikes, it’s often a sophisticated threat that uses advanced techniques to maintain persistence.”
“Meta must be praised for proactively issuing a warning of the attack. Encouragement of transparency and secure sharing of violation details will be critical of properly tackling the threat of spyware. We recommend that people who believe that their device can be compromised enable preventative security features such as Lockdown mode for iPhone users as well as keeping their devices on the latest version of the operating system, ”Boynton said.
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