WhatsApp told TechCrunch that it believed the hacking campaign happened in December, and that it sent a cease and desist letter to Paragon. Idan Nurick, the CEO of Paragon, did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn. AE Industrial did not respond to a request for comment.

Nearly 100 journalists and other members of civil society using WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Meta, were targeted by spyware owned by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli maker of hacking software, the company alleged today. The journalists and other civil society… pic.twitter.com/AiFfyJX08y — TheMuslimLawyer (@faisalkutty) January 31, 2025

According to the chat service, an Israeli company called Paragon Solutions used group chats and PDFs to target the individuals.

An official with Meta Platforms' META.O popular WhatsApp chat service said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.

A senior executive at chat service WhatsApp alleged that Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions attempted to breach the devices of 90 users including journalists, "Reuters" reports. Paragon declined to comment on the report.

Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp messenger service said it disrupted a hacking campaign linked to Israeli spyware firm Paragon.

WhatsApp uncovered a hacking campaign using Paragon spyware, targeting journalists and civil society members. The attack aimed to breach devices through malicious files shared on the platform

WhatsApp says that civil society workers and journalists on its platform were the targets of hacks by the Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions.