It appears that WhatsApp has disrupted a Paragon-powered spyware campaign that was meant to target journalists. Now, what even is Paragon, you might be wondering. Here's a little bit of history: Paragon Solutions is an Israeli cybersecurity firm that specializes in advanced surveillance tools.
The company is notorious for developing spyware that is capable of infiltrating secure messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Signal. Paragon has partnered with the US government a number of times, like last year, when the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) signed a now-paused $2 million contract with the company.
WhatsApp told TechCrunch that Paragon was the company behind the spyware used in the attack. Here's what the company's Zade Alsawah said:
We’ve reached out directly to people who we believe were affected. This is the latest example of why spyware companies must be held accountable for their unlawful actions. WhatsApp will continue to protect people’s ability to communicate privately.
One of WhatsApp's strongest selling points is end-to-end encryption, a feature that other Meta products like Messenger now offer, as well as Google Messages with RCS messaging, so you might wonder what exploit the hackers used to target the journalists.
According to WhatsApp, the hackers sent malicious PDFs to targets via WhatsApp groups, but the company reassured that the issue has been addressed and resolved with a fix. WhatsApp believes that this attack began last month.
As you'd expect, this is not the first time WhatsApp has been targeted for this sort of attack. The platform has over a billion users, after all, making it a perfect "launchpad" for bad actors.
For example, back in 2019, another Israeli firm, NSO Group, used a spyware tool, Pegasus, to exploit a vulnerability that led to the hacking of around 1,400 individuals, including journalists, human rights activists, and government officials. A U.S. judge ruled that NSO Group violated U.S. state and federal hacking laws in this case.
)
21 Comments - Add comment