The estimated 90 individuals who were
notified that they had been spied on through the suspected use
of Paragon Solutions' 'Graphite' military-grade hacking software
were likely a fraction of the total number of cases, according
to a report published on Wednesday by The Citizen Lab, a
research team from the University of Toronto.
The research team has carried out forensic tests on the cell
phones, among others, of the editor-in-chief of investigative
online newspaper Fanpage, Francesco Cancellato, the founder and
missions chief of NGO Mediterranean Saving Humans Luca Casarini,
and shipowner Beppe Caccia, reporting that they had been
infected with Paragon's spyware, the study said.
"The about 90 targets who were notified by WhatsApp probably
represent a fraction of the total number of Paragon cases.
"However, in the cases already examined, there is a concerning
and familiar model of targeting human rights groups, government
critics and journalists", said the report, which was
commissioned by Mediterranea Saving Humans.
Mediterranea said Meta has warned the hacking software was used
to collect data from, among others, the emails, text messages,
Telegram, Skype, Viber, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Signal,
WhatsApp of some of its members.
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