The spyware, called Graphite, can bypass smartphone encryption and extract internal messaging data. It had been supplied to Italy’s foreign intelligence agency, AISE, and domestic agency, AISI, per the report. The Italian government had authorized limited use of the spyware in 2023 and 2024 as part of criminal investigations into suspected terrorism, smuggling and espionage, the committee said.
Background: The cancellation follows controversy over Paragon’s software allegedly being used to spy on individuals in Italy, including the deputy editor of major Italian online newspaper Fanpage.it, Francesco Cancellato. Among others targeted were members of Mediterranea Saving Humans, a migrant rescue NGO critical of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government.
The committee confirmed the use of Paragon on the members of Mediterranea — citing their activities having to do with “irregular migration" — but said it found no evidence that Cancellato had been subjected to surveillance using Paragon software.
“Following the media outcry caused by the affair, on 14 February 2025 Paragon, AISI and AISE unanimously decided — as clarified during the hearings at the Committee — not to use, and therefore to temporarily suspend, the capabilities of the Graphite software on new targets,” the oversight committee’s report said.
Paragon, on the other hand, said on Monday that it had “offered both the Italian government and parliament a way to determine whether its system had been used against the journalist [Francesco Cancellato]. ... As the Italian authorities chose not to proceed with this solution, Paragon has terminated its contracts in Italy,” according to a statement given to Haaretz.
The government confirmed that it had turned down Paragon’s offer to further investigate, giving the reason that Paragon’s method was “not compliant with national security requirements” due to “invasive practices.”
Reached by Al-Monitor, the Italian Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Know more: In late January, WhatsApp alleged that Paragon’s spyware had been used to target 90 members of the messaging app, including journalists. The Italian government in February confirmed that seven of those were targeted in Italy but said that the surveillance was lawful. Cancellato was the first to publicly come forward.
The news was met with widespread condemnation from media freedom and human rights organizations.
“Paragon’s Graphite spyware product is a form of highly invasive spyware capable of covertly accessing the most intimate and sensitive data on an individual’s phone, and cannot be independently audited. Such an intrusive tool can never be human rights compliant and should be banned,” read a statement from Amnesty in March.
Paragon, which was founded in 2019 by veterans of the elite Israeli military intelligence team, Unit 8200, and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, is marketed as being more ethical than some of its competitors. Its US website states that Paragon provides its customers with “ethically based tools” and empowers “ethical cyber defense.”
In October of 2024, Wired magazine reported that the US’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement had signed a $2 million contract with Paragon. The US Drug Enforcement Administration also reportedly uses Paragon software.
