Paragon spyware campaign targeting journalists disrupted by WhatsApp

Date:
Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:31:00 +0000

Description:
Paragon spyware uncovered in PDF files sent to journalists and members of
civil society, with WhatsApp issuing a cease-and-desist against the company.

FULL STORY ======================================================================
- WhatsApp has accused spyware company Paragon of targeting journalists
- The encrypted messaging app disrupted the campaign in December 2024
- A cease-and-desist letter has been issued to Paragon by WhatsApp

WhatsApp has revealed it has disrupted 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, which Meta-owned WhatsApp
has directly implicated in the campaign.

WhatsApp says about 90 of its users were targeted with malicious PDF files, with the victims being notified of the attempt, and a cease-and-desist letter being issued to Paragon. Paragon caught targeting journalists

According to WhatsApp, the campaign was discovered in December 2024, and did not require the users to open the PDF attachment, acting as a zero-click deployment method.

This is the latest example of why spyware companies must be held accountable for their unlawful actions. WhatsApp will continue to protect peoples ability to communicate privately, WhatsApp spokesperson Zade Alsawah said (via TechCrunch ).

WhatsApp has not said where the victims of the campaign were based, and was unable to determine when the campaign started.

In 2024, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) signed a $2 million one year contract with Paragon that included a fully configured proprietary solution including license, hardware, warranty, maintenance and training, federal documents say.

While this is the first time Paragon has been implicated in a spyware
campaign, numerous other commercial spyware software developers have been involved in illegal operations.

Israeli spyware company NSO Group is currently in the crosshairs of a Polish government investigation into the deployment of the Pegasus spyware on thousands of opposition government devices .

In early 2024, WhatsApp won a federal court battle to be able to view the source code of NSO Groups Pegasus spyware after the company was accused of deploying the spyware on 1,400 mobile devices over a two-week period in 2019.

Based on Metas notification, this spyware campaign was another precise attack targeting individuals with highly valued access or contacts," noted Adam Boynton, Senior Security Strategy Manager EMEIA at Jamf. "When spyware does hit, it is often a sophisticated threat that uses advanced techniques to maintain persistence.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/paragon-spyware-campaign-targeting-jour nalists-disrupted-by-whatsapp

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