WhatsApp says it disrupted a campaign in which 90 journalists and other members of civil society were targeted using spyware from Israel-based Paragon
What You Need To Know Türkiye Today : WhatsApp claims Israeli spyware targeted 90 journalists Business Today : WhatsApp exposes spyware targeting journalists, some users by Israeli firm Rimjhim Singh / Business Standard : Paragon spyware attack targeted journalists & civil society, says WhatsApp The Nation : Data Breaches — The recent revelation by Meta's spokesperson that the popular WhatsApp chat service … Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian : Italian investigative journalist targeted on WhatsApp by Israeli spyware Michael Kan / PCMag : Spyware Vendor Allegedly Targeted 90 WhatsApp Users With Zero-Click Attack Al Jazeera : WhatsApp says its users targeted by Israeli spyware company Paragon Michael Hernandez / Anadolu Ajansı Güncel Haberler : Dozens of journalists, civil society members targeted by Israeli spyware in Whatsapp hack Lawrence Bonk / Engadget : WhatsApp claims that 100 journalists and activists were the targets of Israeli-made spyware Moneycontrol : WhatsApp says Paragon spyware used to try hacking journalists Shafaq News : WhatsApp calls on Israel to stop spying on journalists Emma Roth / The Verge : WhatsApp disrupts spyware campaign targeting journalists Raphael Satter / Irish Independent : WhatsApp says Israeli spyware company Paragon targeted journalists and civilians through messaging app Reuters : Meta's WhatsApp says Israeli spyware company Paragon targeted scores of users Bluesky: Lisa Forte / @lisaforte : Yay, more great news 😂🥳 — Meta's WhatsApp says spyware company Paragon targeted users in two dozen countries with zero click malware - www.reuters.com/technology/c... Ahmed Zidan / @zidan : WhatsApp says Israeli spyware company Paragon targeted at least 90 users in two dozen countries, including journalists and members of civil society, using zero-click hack. — In Dec., Paragon was acquired by Florida-based investment group AE Industrial Partners for $500m. @evacide : The first reply I got on Mastodon when I posted about Paragon Solutions zero-click attack on WhatsApp “people shouldn't be using WhatsApp anyway, they should've been using XMPP.” — And that's how the Fediverse is going, folks. Molly McKew / @mollymckew : Guys I'm just going to tell you again to GTF off this app. I know all the parent chats and neighborhood gripe lines are there — but encourage them to move. [embedded post] @b1gdill : So weird how WhatsApp just keeps being vulnerable to zero-click exploits. @taliajane : Paragon: For when you want to abuse the privacy rights of journalists like you can with Pegasus, but without all the baggage. [image] Mandy J Watson / @mandyjwatson : Stop. Using. WhatsApp. Will people finally fucking believe me now? — (The answer is still no.) [embedded post] Bruno J. Navarro / @brunojnavarro : get off meta platforms as soon as you're able [embedded post] Kathleen Lenihan / @kathleenlenihan : If Signal isn't safe either, is there another messaging option? [image] Mastodon: @b9AcE@todon.eu : “Nearly 100 journalists and other members of civil society using WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Meta [Facebook's conglomerate], were targeted by spyware owned by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli maker of hacking software, the company alleged on Friday.” — https://www.theguardian.com/ ... … @fight@mastodon.fightforthefuture.org : Just dropping this as a friendly reminder that you should be using Signal for secure messages. https://www.theguardian.com/ ... X: Francesco Cancellato / @fcancellato : [Translated from Italian] Today I was notified by Meta that I was one of about 90 journalists spied on with #Paragon Solutions' spy software. Here is the article we wrote about the story. It will be in our interest to ensure that the incident is fully clarified John Scott-Railton / @jsrailton : 5/ Without much evidence of problems, perhaps #Paragon would sail through a review. And then today happened. Paragon's story of virtuous exceptionalism crashed against empirical reality when their stuff actually got discovered. By @SuzanneMSmalley https://therecord.media/... [image] John Scott-Railton / @jsrailton : 2/ For a few years the only source of information about #Paragon... has been Paragon. They marketed themselves as the anti-NSO. (NSO makes the notorious #Pegasus spyware) It's easier to frame yourself as virtuous in the spyware game if nobody can look over your shoulder. By [image] John Scott-Railton / @jsrailton : 3/ Late last year, partly on the strength of their promised virtue #Paragon seemed closer than ever to landing the industrys juiciest of prices. Market access into the USA. This is the goal of a lot of spyware companies & their investors... At the time, there simply were no [image] John Scott-Railton / @jsrailton : NEW: @WhatsApp says Israeli mercenary spyware company #Paragon targeted scores of users around world. The infection happened with no interaction. No link to click or attachment to open. This is called a “zero-click” attack. WA says targets included journalists & members of civil society. They dismantled the attack vector & notified users. Good. We at @citizenlab shared some info instrumental to their investigation of the vector. This is a BIG deal. Here's why 1/ John Scott-Railton / @jsrailton : 4/ ...And then there was a hiccup. #Paragon's contract got halted for review. Why? So, the spyware industry partly exists to hack American tech companies And the spyware often gets used against the US & allies. This is a big national security problem. So each recent WH [image] @natynettle : NEW: @WhatsApp notifies civil society victims that they were targeted with #Paragon spyware. This highlights the fundamental problem with the commercial spyware industry being unable to police itself. We need regulation and accountability now! [image] Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / @lorenzofb : NEW: WhatsApp says it has notified 90 victims, including journalists and members of civil society, that they were targeted with spyware made by Paragon. This is the first time that Paragon is linked to alleged abuse of its products. https://techcrunch.com/... Steffan Watkins / @steffanwatkins : This story repeats itself over and over. WhatsApp is a Meta product that has been repeatedly used to target journalists and dissidents, stop using it. Just stop. Use Signal. Chris Bing / @bing_chris : Important development as Paragon is effectively now a U.S. company after its purchase @natynettle : This is not just a question of some bad apples — these types of abuses are a feature of the commercial spyware industry. Shared my thoughts on the new @WhatsApp #Paragon hacking with @lorenzofb from @TechCrunch Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / @lorenzofb : Italian journalist Francesco Cancellato said he was one of the targets of the hacking campaign, after he received the notification from WhatsApp. “It is also our interest to know, if it is possible to do so, who ordered this espionage activity,” he said. https://x.com/... Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / @lorenzofb : We updated the story to include new details from WhatsApp: the targets were in more than two dozen countries, including Europe. https://techcrunch.com/... Jacob Silverman / @silvermanjacob : This Israeli spyware company that hacked dozens of WhatsApp users is now owned by a Florida registered company. I wonder if that'll change things legally https://www.reuters.com/... @bigbrotherwatch : 📱Journalists & human rights defenders are increasingly being subjected to spyware, surveillance & censorship. We must fight for privacy and freedom online. Read ⤵️ https://www.theguardian.com/ ... Murtaza Solangi / @murtazasolangi : WhatsApp says journalists and civil society members were targets of Israeli spyware Messaging app said it had ‘high confidence’ some users were targeted and ‘possibly compromised’ by Paragon Solutions spyware https://www.theguardian.com/ ... 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