Paragon is not collaborating with Italian authorities probing spyware attacks, report says

报道称：Paragon 未配合意大利当局对间谍软件攻击的调查

Last year, WhatsApp and Apple notified several people in Italy, including journalists and activists, that they had been targeted with government spyware. In particular, WhatsApp pointed the finger at the Israeli American surveillance tech maker Paragon Solutions as the company that provided the technology for a hacking campaign that targeted around 90 people around the world with its “Graphite” spyware. The notifications prompted a scandal in Italy that is still unfolding. After being notified of the attacks, a number of victims filed criminal complaints with Italian authorities, and prosecutors then opened an investigation. 去年，WhatsApp 和苹果公司通知了意大利的多名人士（包括记者和活动人士），称他们已成为政府间谍软件的目标。WhatsApp 特别指出，以色列-美国监控技术制造商 Paragon Solutions 提供了相关技术，用于一场针对全球约 90 人的黑客攻击行动，该行动使用了其名为“Graphite”的间谍软件。这些通知在意大利引发了一场至今仍在发酵的丑闻。在收到攻击通知后，多名受害者向意大利当局提起了刑事诉讼，检察官随后展开了调查。

Now it appears that Paragon, despite its previous promises to help Italian authorities investigate the scandal, is said to be uncollaborative. According to Wired Italy, Italian prosecutors sent a formal request for information to Paragon, via the Israeli government, but a year after the investigations were opened, the company has yet to respond. 目前看来，尽管 Paragon 此前曾承诺协助意大利当局调查此丑闻，但据称该公司并未给予配合。据《连线》杂志意大利版（Wired Italy）报道，意大利检察官通过以色列政府向 Paragon 发出了正式的信息请求，但在调查启动一年后，该公司仍未作出回应。

Following the eruption of the spyware scandal in Italy, Paragon publicly called out the Italian government, claiming it refused the company’s offer to investigate whether a journalist was hacked and spied on with its Graphite spyware. The company went so far as to cancel its contract with Italy’s two spy agencies, AISE and AISI, in part because the Italian government turned down the company’s offer to help. It’s unclear why Paragon has not responded to the prosecutor’s request. It’s possible that the Israeli government intervened. 在意大利间谍软件丑闻爆发后，Paragon 曾公开指责意大利政府，声称政府拒绝了该公司提出的调查请求，即核实某位记者是否遭到了其 Graphite 间谍软件的黑客攻击和监视。该公司甚至取消了与意大利两大情报机构 AISE 和 AISI 的合同，部分原因就是意大利政府拒绝了其提供的协助。目前尚不清楚 Paragon 为何没有回应检察官的请求，这可能是因为以色列政府进行了干预。

In 2024, The Guardian reported that the Israeli government seized documents from NSO’s office to prevent the company from complying with demands in the lawsuit against WhatsApp. Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack told Wired Italy that the Israeli government could force local companies to cooperate with foreign judicial requests for information, “but this has never happened.” 2024 年，《卫报》报道称，以色列政府查封了 NSO 办公室的文件，以阻止该公司配合针对 WhatsApp 的诉讼要求。以色列人权律师 Eitay Mack 对《连线》意大利版表示，以色列政府本可以强制当地公司配合外国的司法信息请求，“但这从未发生过。”

Spain’s High Court closed its investigation earlier this year into the use of NSO’s spyware to target Spanish politicians, claiming Israeli authorities did not cooperate with its probe. 今年早些时候，西班牙高等法院结束了对 NSO 间谍软件针对西班牙政客的调查，理由是以色列当局未配合其调查工作。

Paragon, the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., and the prosecutors’ offices in Rome and Naples, which are jointly investigating the case, did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. Paragon、以色列驻华盛顿大使馆，以及负责联合调查此案的罗马和那不勒斯检察官办公室均未回应 TechCrunch 的置评请求。

In the history of government spyware, it’s extremely rare for a company to get into a public fight with one of its former customers. Paragon’s move was likely motivated by its longstanding attempts to appear as an ostensibly more righteous alternative to other spyware makers, such as NSO Group or Intellexa, which have been ensnared in countless scandals around the world. Instead, Paragon’s official website, which no longer loads, said the company provides customers “with ethically based tools, teams, and insights.” 在政府间谍软件的历史上，一家公司与前客户公开决裂的情况极为罕见。Paragon 此举很可能是为了长期塑造一种形象，即作为其他间谍软件制造商（如 NSO Group 或 Intellexa）的“正义替代品”，因为后者已在全球范围内卷入了无数丑闻。Paragon 此前在其官方网站（现已无法访问）上宣称，公司为客户提供“基于道德的工具、团队和洞察力”。

So far, this is Paragon’s first public scandal, but the company now has an active contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which for a year has been arresting and deporting tens of thousands of immigrants all over the country. ICE told lawmakers that its law-enforcement arm Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is using Paragon’s spyware to counter terrorism and drug trafficking. 到目前为止，这是 Paragon 首次公开的丑闻，但该公司目前与美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）有一份现行合同，该机构一年来在全国范围内逮捕并驱逐了数万名移民。ICE 告诉立法者，其执法部门国土安全调查局（HSI）正在使用 Paragon 的间谍软件来打击恐怖主义和毒品走私。

Italy’s government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has always denied hacking two of the journalists, Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino, who work at the online news website Fanpage and whose phones were targeted by Paragon’s Graphite. The Citizen Lab, a research organization that has investigated spyware abuses for more than a decade, confirmed both journalists were hacked with Graphite. 在乔治亚·梅洛尼（Giorgia Meloni）总理领导下的意大利政府一直否认黑客攻击了两位记者——Francesco Cancellato 和 Ciro Pellegrino。他们供职于在线新闻网站 Fanpage，其手机曾被 Paragon 的 Graphite 软件锁定。研究机构“公民实验室”（The Citizen Lab）在调查间谍软件滥用问题十多年后，证实这两位记者确实遭到了 Graphite 的攻击。

The other victims in the country include activists who work for Mediterranea Saving Humans, an Italian nonprofit with the mission of rescuing migrants who try to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Last June, the Italian parliamentary committee that oversees the country’s spy agencies investigated the scandal, and concluded that the targeting of the activists was lawful. But it also said it could not find evidence that Cancellato was targeted, and the committee did not investigate Pellegrino’s case at all. 该国其他受害者还包括为“地中海拯救人类”（Mediterranea Saving Humans）工作的活动人士，这是一个旨在营救试图穿越地中海的移民的意大利非营利组织。去年 6 月，负责监督该国情报机构的意大利议会委员会调查了这起丑闻，并得出结论称，针对这些活动人士的监控是合法的。但该委员会同时也表示，无法找到证据证明 Cancellato 曾被锁定，且根本没有调查 Pellegrino 的案件。

Then, in March, the same prosecutors who have requested information from Paragon said in a press release that a forensic investigation into Cancellato’s device confirmed that his phone had indeed been hacked, while it could not conclude the same after analyzing Pellegrino’s phone. The prosecutors’ investigation is still ongoing. 随后在 3 月份，曾向 Paragon 请求信息的同一批检察官在新闻发布会上表示，对 Cancellato 设备的取证调查证实他的手机确实被黑客入侵，但在分析 Pellegrino 的手机后无法得出同样的结论。目前，检察官的调查仍在进行中。