NEW: Italian gov reportedly admits it targeted activists with #Paragon mercenary spyware.

After ~2 months that began with denials & slid into evasions, some clarity finally came. But only some...

The spyware targeting of journalist Francesco Cancellato, the first case to come forwards after he got notified by #WhatsApp at the end of January is still unexplained.

We at #Citizenlab have been investigating the case & working with targets. We published a forensic investigation last week. Lots of unanswered questions.

Company Background:

Company frames themselves as the anti-NSO Group (the notorious Israeli spyware company that makes Pegasus spyware). More stealthy. More ethical. Well, they got caught & they now have a big scandal.

Like NSO, Paragon also originates out of alumni from the Israeli intelligence community but was recently acquired by a US defense contractor.

Up Next?

As long as clarity is incomplete... the #Paragon scandal isn't going away for #Italy ... and Italy is going to remain a major pain for the mercenary spyware company.