Cancellato is the first target to come forward following the disclosure of a hacking campaign carried out using spyware allegedly made by Paragon Solutions, as WhatsApp claimed on Friday.

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.

WhatsApp has disrupted a spyware campaign last month that targeted journalists and civil society members, the company announced on Friday. The campaign originated from an Israeli spyware company called Paragon Solutions and impacted around 90 users.

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-owned WhatsApp disrupted a zero-click spyware campaign by Paragon Solutions, targeting 90 journalists and activists.

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

WhatsApp has accused Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions of targeting nearly 100 journalists and civil society members.

By Raphael Satter WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An official with Meta's popular WhatsApp chat service said the Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.