Paragon Solutions
| Industry | Spyware |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 |
| Headquarters | , Israel |
Key people | Idan Nurick (CEO) Ehud Barak (co-founder & board member) |
| Products | Graphite |
| Subsidiaries | Paragon Solutions US Inc. |
Paragon Solutions is an Israeli Spyware company.[1] Paragon has tried to market itself as more responsible than other spyware vendors especially as competitors like NSO Group and Intellexa have been involved in scandals.[2]
History
[edit]Founded in 2019 by former commander of Unit 8200 Ehud Schneorson as well as Idan Nurick, Igor Bogudlov, Liad Avraham and Ehud Barak.[3]
Sourced reportedly told Forbes that Battery Ventures had put between $5 and $10 million into Paragon.[3]
According to the Financial Times, after the discovery of Pegasus on the phones of associates of Jamal Khashoggi, "Paragon declined Israeli government requests to replace Pegasus with Graphite in the Saudi armoury".[4]
In 2023, US president Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14093 which was "seen by experts as targeting NSO, while carving out a space for companies like Paragon to continue selling similar spyware, but only to the closest of US allies".[4]
In 2024, AE Industrial Partners reportedly acquired Paragon for over half a billion dollars.[5][6]
In 2025, WhatsApp claimed to have disrupted a campaign by Paragon targeting around 90 users, including journalists and members of civil society.[7][8][9]
Graphite
[edit]According to Citizen Lab, graphite is spyware sold by Paragon which allows "access to the instant messaging applications on a device, rather than taking complete control of everything on a phone".[1]
Customers
[edit]Italy
[edit]Paragon reportedly cut ties with the Italian government after determining that the Italian government had broken “the terms of service and ethical framework it had agreed under its Paragon contract”.[10][11]
Targets of the Italian government reportedly included Francesco Cancellato the editor in chief of Fanpage.it, Luca Casarini the founder of Mediterranea Saving Humans, Husam El Gomati who has been a vocal critic of Italy and its dealings in Libya and Father Mattia Ferrari an Italian priest who has a close relationship with Pope Francis.[12][13][14][15]
United States
[edit]Paragon sells to the United States.[16] The New York Times reported that the Biden administration allowed the Drug Enforcement Administration to use Graphite.[17] In 2024, a 2 million dollar contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement was reportedly paused and placed under compliance review, "to review and verify compliance with Executive Order 14093". According to Wired, experts said that, "the level of seriousness with which the US government approaches the compliance review of the Paragon contract will influence international trust in the executive order".[18] Paragon reportedly hired WestExec Advisors.[4][19]
Other
[edit]Citizen Lab "identified a subset of suspected Paragon deployments, including in Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore" and "surfaced potential links between Paragon Solutions and the Canadian Ontario Provincial Police".[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Marczak, Bill; Scott-Railton, John; Robertson, Kate; Perry, Astrid; Brown, Rebekah; Razzak, Bahr Abdul; Anstis, Siena; Deibert, Ron (2025-03-19). Virtue or Vice? A First Look at Paragon's Proliferating Spyware Operations (Report). Citizen Lab, University of Toronto.
- ^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (2025-03-19). "Researchers name six countries as likely customers of Paragon's spyware". TechCrunch.
- ^ a b Brewster, Thomas (Jul 29, 2021). "Meet Paragon: An American-Funded, Super-Secretive Israeli Surveillance Startup That 'Hacks WhatsApp And Signal'". Forbes.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2025.
- ^ a b c Srivastava, Mehul; Wiggins, Kaye (2023-05-31). "Cyberweapon manufacturers plot to stay on the right side of US". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 Sep 2023.
- ^ Benjakob, Omer (Dec 16, 2024). "Israeli Spyware Firm Paragon Sold to U.S., as Trump's Digital Arsenal Grows". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 16 Dec 2024.
- ^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (2024-12-16). "Israeli spyware maker Paragon bought by US private equity giant". TechCrunch.
- ^ Bruna, Horvath; Collier, Kevin (31 Jan 2025). "WhatsApp says a spyware company targeted journalists and civilians in a global campaign". NBC News.
- ^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (2025-01-31). "WhatsApp says it disrupted a hacking campaign targeting journalists with Paragon spyware". TechCrunch.
- ^ Satter, Raphael (January 31, 2025). "Meta's WhatsApp says spyware company Paragon targeted users in two dozen countries". Reuters.
- ^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (February 6, 2025). "Spyware maker Paragon terminates contract with Italian government: Media reports". TechCrunch.
- ^ Bennett, Tom (6 February 2025). "Spyware firm cuts Italy access after alleged targeting of activists - reports". The BBC.
- ^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (2025-01-31). "Italian investigative journalist targeted on WhatsApp by Israeli spyware". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- ^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Giuffrida, Angela (2025-02-05). "Italian founder of migrant rescue group 'targeted with spyware'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- ^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Giuffrida, Angela (2025-02-03). "Critic of Italy-Libya migration pact told he was target of Israeli spyware". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- ^ Giuffrida, Angela; Tondo, Lorenzo; Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (2025-02-25). "Italian priest close to pope told he was target of surveillance tool used by a government". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- ^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (2025-02-04). "Spyware maker Paragon confirms US government is a customer". TechCrunch.
- ^ Mazzetti, Mark; Bergman, Ronen; Stevis-Gridneff, Matina (2022-12-08). "How the Global Spyware Industry Spiraled Out of Control". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2 Apr 2024.
- ^ Panagiotopoulos, Vas (Oct 21, 2024). "ICE's $2 Million Contract With a Spyware Vendor Is Under White House Review". Wired.com. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 23 Mar 2025.
- ^ Panagiotopoulos, Vas. "ICE Signs $2 Million Contract With Spyware Maker Paragon Solutions". Wired.com. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 22 Nov 2024.