Latest news with #Cancellato
The Hindu
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Italian lawmakers seek answers from government on spyware scandal
Italian lawmakers have formally asked the government whether it spied on journalists, possibly using technology supplied by U.S.-based spyware maker Paragon, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. The move marks the latest twist in a months-long saga that has left Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative government facing opposition accusations that it illegally deployed surveillance against its critics; accusations it denies. The COPASIR parliamentary security committee has written to Cabinet Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, a key Meloni aide who oversees intelligence matters, to ask whether reporters were targeted, the source said, asking not to be named. Mantovano did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Meloni's government has repeatedly denied being involved in any illegal spying on journalists. Paragon did not immediately respond on Friday to an emailed request for comment outside office hours. In January, META said around 90 users of its popular WhatsApp chat service had been targeted by Paragon spyware. Some of them were later shown to have been Italian. Last month, Reuters reported that Italian prosecutors were looking into allegations of spying on Ciro Pellegrino and Francesco Cancellato from the Fanpage news website, Roberto D'Agostino, the head of political gossip website Dagospia, and Dutch right-wing influencer Eva Vlaardingerbroek. In a report published in June, COPASIR said Italy's domestic and foreign intelligence agencies had activated contracts with Paragon and used its technology on a limited number of people, with permission from a prosecutor. These included members of a migrant sea rescue NGO who are critical of Meloni's hardline border policies. The report found no evidence that Italian spy agencies used Paragon spyware on Cancellato's phone, as he had alleged to Reuters and other media outlets. The document made no mention of the other journalists. Following a media outcry and criticism from opposition politicians over the affair, both Paragon and Italian authorities said last month that spyware contracts between them had been terminated. In a statement provided in June to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Paragon said it had offered the Italian government a way to check whether its spyware had been used against Cancellato. The company said it ended the contract with Italy when this offer was turned down. COPASIR said Italian authorities ended the contract on their own initiative, and disputed Paragon's version of events.
Straits Times
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Italian lawmakers seek answers from government on spyware scandal
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox ROME - Italian lawmakers have formally asked the government whether it spied on journalists, possibly using technology supplied by U.S.-based spyware maker Paragon, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. The move marks the latest twist in a months-long saga that has left Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative government facing opposition accusations that it illegally deployed surveillance against its critics - accusations it denies. The COPASIR parliamentary security committee has written to Cabinet Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, a key Meloni aide who oversees intelligence matters, to ask whether reporters were targeted, the source said, asking not to be named. Mantovano did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Meloni's government has repeatedly denied being involved in any illegal spying on journalists. Paragon did not immediately respond on Friday to an emailed request for comment outside office hours. In January, META said around 90 users of its popular WhatsApp chat service had been targeted by Paragon spyware. Some of them were later shown to have been Italian. Last month, Reuters reported that Italian prosecutors were looking into allegations of spying on Ciro Pellegrino and Francesco Cancellato from the Fanpage news website, Roberto D'Agostino, the head of political gossip website Dagospia, and Dutch right-wing influencer Eva Vlaardingerbroek. In a report published in June, COPASIR said Italy's domestic and foreign intelligence agencies had activated contracts with Paragon and used its technology on a limited number of people, with permission from a prosecutor. These included members of a migrant sea rescue NGO who are critical of Meloni's hardline border policies. The report found no evidence that Italian spy agencies used Paragon spyware on Cancellato's phone, as he had alleged to Reuters and other media outlets. The document made no mention of the other journalists. Following a media outcry and criticism from opposition politicians over the affair, both Paragon and Italian authorities said last month that spyware contracts between them had been terminated. In a statement provided in June to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Paragon said it had offered the Italian government a way to check whether its spyware had been used against Cancellato. The company said it ended the contract with Italy when this offer was turned down. COPASIR said Italian authorities ended the contract on their own initiative, and disputed Paragon's version of events. REUTERS
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Second Italian journalist targeted with Paragon spyware, watchdog group says
By Raphael Satter LONDON (Reuters) -A second Italian journalist was recently targeted by software made by U.S.-owned surveillance company Paragon, internet watchdog group Citizen Lab said, raising new questions about a surveillance scandal that has already led Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government and Paragon to part ways. Citizen Lab said in a report on Thursday that Italian investigative journalist Ciro Pellegrino's iPhone showed evidence of having been targeted by Paragon's sophisticated spy software. Pellegrino works at the online newspaper Fanpage, whose editor-in-chief Francesco Cancellato earlier disclosed that he was one of scores of users who received January alerts from WhatsApp that they had been targeted using Paragon's technology. Fanpage has published a stream of critical coverage of Meloni's government, notably an exposé tying her party's youth wing to neo-Nazi activity, and the allegation that Fanpage's journalists, among others, were put under surveillance has stirred controversy in Italy. On Monday, the government and Paragon announced that they were no longer working together, offering conflicting explanations about who fired whom. Paragon referred questions back to an earlier statement it provided to the Israeli publication Haaretz in which it said it had offered Italian officials a way to check whether its systems had been used against Cancellato, but that Italian authorities had rebuffed the offer. Italian officials did not return a message seeking comment on the Citizen Lab report. In a text exchange with Reuters, Pellegrino said the discovery that he had been targeted with spyware was "horrible." The Naples-based journalist said his phone was "the black box of my life, which contains everything from personal and health data to journalistic sources." Although an Italian parliamentary panel reported on Monday that the country's spy services had deployed Paragon's tools to intercept the communications of migrant sea rescue activists in the context of law enforcement work, the panel said it had found no evidence that the tools were used by Italian intelligence to go after Fanpage's Cancellato. The discovery of Paragon spyware on the phone of one of Cancellato's colleagues adds to questions about the panel's thoroughness, said Natalia Krapiva, a senior lawyer with Access Now, a human rights group that works with spyware victims. "It sheds serious doubt on the adequacy of the investigation," she said. The Italian parliamentary panel, which has reserved the right to conduct further investigations around the matter, did not respond to a message seeking comment. In its report, Citizen Lab also said that an unnamed European journalist was hacked with Paragon's spyware. The lab, which is based out of the University of Toronto, offered no other details and declined to answer questions about the journalist's identity or the circumstances of their targeting.
Reuters
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Second Italian journalist targeted with Paragon spyware, watchdog group says
LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - A second Italian journalist was recently targeted by software made by U.S.-owned surveillance company Paragon, internet watchdog group Citizen Lab said, raising new questions about a surveillance scandal that has already led Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government and Paragon to part ways. Citizen Lab said in a report on Thursday that Italian investigative journalist Ciro Pellegrino's iPhone showed evidence of having been targeted by Paragon's sophisticated spy software. Pellegrino works at the online newspaper Fanpage, whose editor-in-chief Francesco Cancellato earlier disclosed that he was one of scores of users who received January alerts from WhatsApp that they had been targeted using Paragon's technology. Fanpage has published a stream of critical coverage of Meloni's government, notably an exposé tying her party's youth wing to neo-Nazi activity, and the allegation that Fanpage's journalists, among others, were put under surveillance has stirred controversy in Italy. On Monday, the government and Paragon announced that they were no longer working together, offering conflicting explanations about who fired whom. Paragon referred questions back to an earlier statement, opens new tab it provided to the Israeli publication Haaretz in which it said it had offered Italian officials a way to check whether its systems had been used against Cancellato, but that Italian authorities had rebuffed the offer. Italian officials did not return a message seeking comment on the Citizen Lab report. In a text exchange with Reuters, Pellegrino said the discovery that he had been targeted with spyware was "horrible." The Naples-based journalist said his phone was "the black box of my life, which contains everything from personal and health data to journalistic sources." Although an Italian parliamentary panel reported on Monday that the country's spy services had deployed Paragon's tools to intercept the communications of migrant sea rescue activists in the context of law enforcement work, the panel said it had found no evidence that the tools were used by Italian intelligence to go after Fanpage's Cancellato. The discovery of Paragon spyware on the phone of one of Cancellato's colleagues adds to questions about the panel's thoroughness, said Natalia Krapiva, a senior lawyer with Access Now, a human rights group that works with spyware victims. "It sheds serious doubt on the adequacy of the investigation," she said. The Italian parliamentary panel, which has reserved the right to conduct further investigations around the matter, did not respond to a message seeking comment. In its report, Citizen Lab also said that an unnamed European journalist was hacked with Paragon's spyware. The lab, which is based out of the University of Toronto, offered no other details and declined to answer questions about the journalist's identity or the circumstances of their targeting.
The Guardian
01-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Second Italian journalist allegedly targeted with ‘mercenary spyware'
A second Italian journalist whose news organisation exposed young fascists within the prime minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right party was targeted with sophisticated 'mercenary spyware', according to an Apple notification received by the reporter. Ciro Pellegrino is the second reporter at the investigative news outlet Fanpage to fall victim to an alleged spyware attack, after his editor-in-chief, Francesco Cancellato. Cancellato revealed in January that he had received a notification that he had been targeted with software produced by the Israel-based Paragon Solutions, a company that had a client relationship with the Italian government at the time. Pellegrino is the sixth individual in Italy to have been subjected to spyware allegedly deployed by state actors, after Cancellato and four other civil society members and activists. The others are Luca Casarini and Beppe Caccia, the Italian founders of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans, who are vocal critics of Italy's alleged complicity in abuses suffered by migrants in Libya; Father Mattia Ferrari, a chaplain on a migrant rescue ship owned by the NGO, who had a close relationship with Pope Francis; and David Yambio, an Italy-based human rights activist. Pellegrino told the Guardian: 'On Tuesday evening I received a notification from Apple informing me that it had detected a mercenary spyware attack targeting my device. I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a prank. It's the first time anything like this has happened to me. It's a horrible feeling. 'Why have I been targeted? I've been asking myself that ever since the notification arrived. I will – and we will – ask that question publicly of anyone who has the authority and the duty to answer. An answer is owed … to everyone who has an interest in knowing who, in this country, has torn to shreds the clear boundary between security and surveillance, between legality and abuse.' Pellegrino, who has been critical of Meloni's government on social media, contacted researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, which tracks digital surveillance of civil society actors and helps to identify the kinds of spyware used in such attacks. Cancellato, Casarini, Caccia, Ferrari and Yambo were allegedly targeted with the military-grade Paragon software. Citing a person familiar with the matter, the Guardian reported in February that Paragonhad terminated its client relationship with Italy. It is not yet clear when Pellegrino's mobile phone was attacked or whether Paragon was used in his case. Like other spyware vendors, Paragon sells its cyberweapon to government clients who are supposed to use it to prevent crime. The company has said that under its terms of service, government clients are not permitted to target journalists or other members of civil society. A Paragon spokesperson said: 'Paragon requires all users of our technology to adhere to terms and conditions that preclude the illicit targeting of journalists and other civil society leaders. While we are not able to discuss individual customers, we have a zero-tolerance policy for violations of our terms of service.' In March during a classified meeting with Copasir, the Italian parliamentary committee for national security, Alfredo Mantovano, a cabinet undersecretary, admitted his government had approved the use of Paragon to spy on members of a humanitarian NGO because they were allegedly deemed a possible threat to national security. Copasir is investigating whether the secret services breached the law in using Paragon Solutions to monitor activists and journalists, and is expecting to report on its findings soon. John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab, said he believed the Italian government, a confirmed former Paragon user, was 'in a good position' to know whether the spyware had been used to target Pellegrino because it would have kept logs of deployments. 'The Paragon affair is not over for Italy, and now is a critical moment for clear and transparent official communication,' Railton said.
