Latest news with #JohnScott-Railton
NBC News
31-01-2025
- NBC News
WhatsApp says a spyware company targeted journalists and civilians
Around 90 users of Meta's chat service WhatsApp are suspected to have been targets of a spyware campaign conducted by an Israeli spyware company called Paragon Solutions, a WhatsApp spokesperson told NBC News. The spokesperson said that the attack targeted a number of users including journalists and members of civil society 'across over two dozen countries, particularly in Europe.' They added that Paragon Solutions has used a vector, a method to illegally access a network, to target the users and that 'the vector involved using groups and sending a malicious PDF file.' The spokesperson added that the company has 'successfully disrupted this exploitation vector.' WhatsApp has sent Paragon Solutions a cease-and-desist letter following the series of attempted attacks. The spokesperson said that those who are believed to be affected have been notified through WhatsApp chat and have been provided information on how to protect themselves from spyware. Paragon Solutions did not reply to an immediate request for comment. 'These attackers look for vulnerabilities in apps or the mobile phone operating system or try to trick users into clicking on malicious links or downloading malware — all to gain unauthorized access that can damage your phone, steal your information and put your privacy and security at risk,' a WhatsApp help page on spyware reads. The spokesperson said that the company's security team and Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research lab based out of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, helped track the spyware campaign. John Scott-Railton, a Senior Researcher at Citizen Lab, told NBC News that a hack such as this one has the ability to 'turn a telephone into a spy in your pocket.' 'When a phone is infected, the operator of that spyware can typically do anything that you as a user can do on the phone,' Scott-Railton said. 'They can access your encrypted messages, your chats, look at your photographs, browse your messages, listen to your voice memos, look at your notes, read your contacts, get your passwords, and also do some number of things that you can't do, like silently activating the microphone to listen to a conversation you might be having in a room, or turning on the camera.' WhatsApp has worked with Citizen Lab in the past when the chat service had sued the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group in 2019, accusing the company of aiding government spies to hack the phones of over a thousand users, which included journalists, diplomats, senior government officials, and political dissidents. In December of 2024, a U.S. judge ruled in favor of Whatsapp. That same month, the Florida-based investment group AE Industrial Partners, a competitor to NSO Group, acquired Paragon Solutions. It is still believed that Paragon Solutions operates in Israel. Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at the internet access nonprofit Access Now, says that the nonprofit's research has found that these attacks on 'journalists and other civil society actors are becoming common.' 'Last time WhatsApp notified NSO victims in 2019, we have seen a flood of lawsuits, sanctions, and other consequences for this industry,' Krapiva said. 'But we need more action by lawmakers and the tech sector to reign in the industry as it obviously cannot police itself.'
USA Today
31-01-2025
- USA Today
Meta's WhatsApp says Israeli spyware company Paragon targeted users
Meta's WhatsApp says Israeli spyware company Paragon targeted users Show Caption Hide Caption WhatsApp, OpenAI team for new talk, text ChatGPT feature OpenAI introduced a new WhatsApp feature, 1-800-CHATGPT, that allows users to talk to and text ChatGPT. An official with Meta Platforms' META.O popular WhatsApp chat service said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society. The official said on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack. In a statement, WhatsApp said the company "will continue to protect people's ability to communicate privately." Paragon declined to comment. The WhatsApp official told Reuters it had detected an effort to hack approximately 90 users. The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted. But he said those targeted were based in more than two dozen countries, including several people in Europe. He said WhatsApp users were sent malicious electronic documents that required no user interaction to compromise their targets, a so-called zero-click hack that is considered particularly stealthy. The official said WhatsApp had since disrupted the hacking effort and was referring targets to Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab. The official declined to discuss how it determined that Paragon was responsible for the hack. He said law enforcement and industry partners had been informed, but declined to give details. The FBI did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton said the discovery of Paragon spyware targeting WhatsApp users "is a reminder that mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use." Privacy tips: Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds' warning Spyware merchants such as Paragon sell high-end surveillance software to government clients and typically pitch their services as critical to fighting crime and protecting national security. But such spy tools have repeatedly been discovered on the phones of journalists, activists, opposition politicians, and at least 50 U.S. officials, raising concerns over the unchecked proliferation of the technology. Paragon - which was reportedly acquired by Florida-based investment group AE Industrial Partners last month - has tried to position itself publicly as one of the industry's more responsible players. Its website advertises "ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats," and media reports citing people familiar with the company say Paragon only sells to governments in stable democratic countries. Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at the advocacy group Access Now, said Paragon had the reputation of being a better spyware company, "but WhatsApp's recent revelations suggest otherwise." "This is not just a question of some bad apples — these types of abuses (are) a feature of the commercial spyware industry." AE did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington and James Pearson in London; Editing by Jan Harvey and Rod Nickel
Russia Today
31-01-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
WhatsApp accuses Israeli spyware firm of targeting journalists, civil society members
Meta's popular messaging platform WhatsApp has alerted nearly 100 journalists and civil society members to potential device breaches involving spyware from Israeli firm Paragon Solutions, a company official told Reuters on Friday. These individuals have likely been compromised through a zero-click attack, possibly initiated via a malicious PDF sent in group chats, according to WhatsApp. The identity of the attackers remains unknown, though Paragon's software is typically used by government clients. After detecting and disrupting the hacking effort, WhatsApp issued a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon. The incident has been reported to law enforcement and Citizen Lab, a Canadian internet watchdog. Paragon declined to comment on the accusations, according to Reuters. Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton told the outlet that the incident 'is a reminder that mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use.' READ MORE: CIA can read WhatsApp messages – Zuckerberg Paragon's website advertises "ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats,' and claims to only sell to governments in stable democratic countries. The company's products include Graphite, spyware that allows total phone access. Despite Paragon's claims of ethical practices, WhatsApp's findings suggest otherwise, Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at Access Now, told Reuters. She emphasized that such abuses are not isolated incidents, saying, 'This is not just a question of some bad apples – these types of abuses (are) a feature of the commercial spyware industry.' This incident follows a series of legal challenges against Israeli spyware firms. In December 2024, a US judge ruled that NSO Group, the maker of Pegasus spyware, was liable for hacking the phones of 1,400 individuals through WhatsApp in May 2019, violating US state and federal hacking laws, and WhatsApp's terms of service. A separate trial in March will determine what damages NSO Group owes WhatsApp. READ MORE: 'World's largest investigative journalism organization' secretly controlled by US government – report Legal documents from ongoing US litigation between NSO Group and WhatsApp have revealed that it is the Israeli cyberweapons maker NSO Group, not its government clients, that installs and extracts information using its spyware. This disclosure contradicts NSO's prior claim that only clients operate the system without NSO's direct involvement.
Al Jazeera
31-01-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
WhatsApp says its users targeted by Israeli spyware company Paragon
An official at Meta's popular WhatsApp chat service has said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions targeted 90 of its users, including journalists and members of civil society. The official told the Reuters news agency on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack. The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted but confirmed that WhatsApp is referring targets to the Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab. He declined to say how WhatsApp ascertained that Paragon was responsible for the breach. He said law enforcement and industry partners had been informed, but would not go into detail. In a statement, WhatsApp said the company 'will continue to protect people's ability to communicate privately'. WhatsApp also told the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper that it had 'high confidence' the users in question had been targeted and 'possibly compromised'. Paragon declined to comment. Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton told Reuters that the discovery of Paragon spyware targeting WhatsApp users 'is a reminder that mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use'. Paragon sells high-end surveillance software to government clients. They typically advertise their services as critical to fighting crime and protecting national security. Similar spy tools – which allow remote access to mobile devices without the victim's knowledge – have been discovered on the phones of journalists, activists, and at least 50 US officials, raising concerns about the unchecked proliferation of spyware technology. Several reports in recent years have found that Israeli-made Pegasus spyware has been used by governments across the world to spy on activists, journalists, and even heads of state. Paragon, which was co-founded by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, was reportedly sold to a US private equity firm, AE Industrial Partners, for $900m in 2024. The company's website advertises 'ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats'. Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at the advocacy group Access Now, said Paragon had the reputation of being a more responsible spyware company, 'but WhatsApp's recent revelations suggest otherwise'. 'This is not just a question of some bad apples — these types of abuses [are] a feature of the commercial spyware industry,' she told Reuters.
Asharq Al-Awsat
31-01-2025
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Meta's WhatsApp Says Israeli Spyware Company Paragon Targeted Users
An official with Meta's popular WhatsApp chat service said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society. The official said on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack. In a statement, WhatsApp said the company "will continue to protect people's ability to communicate privately." Paragon declined to comment. The WhatsApp official told Reuters it had detected an effort to hack approximately 90 users of its platform. The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted or where they were geographically, saying only that targets included an unspecified number of people in civil society and media. He said WhatsApp had since disrupted the hacking effort and was referring targets to Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab. The official declined to discuss how it ascertained that Paragon was responsible for the hack. He said law enforcement and industry partners had been informed, but declined to go into detail. The FBI did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton said the discovery of Paragon spyware targeting WhatsApp users "is a reminder that mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use." Spyware merchants such as Paragon sell high-end surveillance software to government clients and typically pitch their services as critical to fighting crime and protecting national security. But such spy tools have repeatedly been discovered on the phones of journalists, activists, opposition politicians, and at least 50 US officials, raising concerns over the unchecked proliferation of the technology. Paragon - which was reportedly acquired by Florida-based investment group AE Industrial Partners last month - has tried to position itself publicly as one of the industry's more responsible players. The company's website advertises "ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats," and media reports citing people familiar with the company say Paragon only sells to governments in stable democratic countries. Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at the advocacy group Access Now, said Paragon had the reputation of being a better spyware company, "but WhatsApp's recent revelations suggest otherwise." "This is not just a question of some bad apples — these types of abuses (are) a feature of the commercial spyware industry." AE did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
