WhatsApp’s Meta claims that Paragon, a spyware business, targeted users across two dozen nations

A representative of Meta Platforms (META.O), a well-known WhatsApp chat service, said that the Israeli spyware firm Paragon Solutions had targeted a large number of its users, including journalists and civil society representatives.

After the hack, WhatsApp issued Paragon a cease-and-desist letter, the official said on Friday. WhatsApp said in a statement that it “will continue to protect people’s ability to communicate privately.”

Paragon chose not to respond.

An attempt to compromise about 90 individuals was discovered, the WhatsApp official told Reuters.

The officer refused to identify the exact target. However, he said that the targets were headquartered in over two dozen nations, including a number of Europeans. According to him, WhatsApp users received malicious electronic documents that compromised their targets without requiring any user interaction—a technique known as a “zero-click hack,” which is thought to be very covert.

According to the insider, WhatsApp has since stopped the hacking attempt and is sending targets to Citizen Lab, a Canadian online monitoring group. The official refused to explain how it came to the conclusion that Paragon was behind the hack. Although he declined to provide specifics, he stated that industry partners and law police had been notified.

A message asking for comment was not immediately answered by the FBI.

According to John Scott-Railton, a researcher at Citizen Lab, the identification of Paragon malware that targets WhatsApp users “is a reminder that mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use.”

High-end surveillance software is sold to government clients by spyware vendors like Paragon, who usually portray their services as essential to combating crime and preserving national security.

However, there are worries about the technology’s unfettered spread because similar surveillance tools have been found on the phones of at least 50 U.S. officials, journalists, activists, and opposition politicians on several occasions.

According to reports, Paragon, which was purchased by the Florida-based investment firm AE Industrial Partners last month, has made an effort to present itself to the public as one of the more ethical companies in the sector.

On its website, it promotes “ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats,” and according to media sources that cite people with knowledge of the business, Paragon exclusively supplies governments in democratic, stable nations.

According to Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at the advocacy group Access Now, Paragon was thought to be a superior spyware provider, “but WhatsApp’s recent revelations suggest otherwise.”

“This is not just a question of some bad apples — these types of abuses (are) a feature of the commercial spyware industry.”

A message asking for comment was not immediately answered by AE.