The Secrets of the US Spyware King
Most of the targets were not identified, but the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab named two journalists and two activists in Italy.Italian authorities denied misuse. Paragon and its new US owners, despite their zero-tolerance policy for customer abuse of their software, initially declined to comment on the allegations, and reportedly was exploring potential legal action against WhatsApp after the company sent a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon. Within a week, however, Paragon had canceled the two contracts it had with Italy’s domestic and foreign intelligence agencies.From the outside, it seemed Paragon must have conducted an investigation and verified the allegations before canceling the contracts.
- ▪Most of the targets were not identified, but the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab named two journalists and two activists in Italy.Italian authorities denied misuse.
- ▪Paragon and its new US owners, despite their zero-tolerance policy for customer abuse of their software, initially declined to comment on the allegations, and reportedly was exploring potential legal action against WhatsApp after the compan
- ▪Within a week, however, Paragon had canceled the two contracts it had with Italy’s domestic and foreign intelligence agencies.From the outside, it seemed Paragon must have conducted an investigation and verified the allegations before cance
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| Original publisher | WIRED |
| Canonical URL | https://www.wired.com/story/the-secrets-of-the-us-spyware-king/ |
| Publication time | Thu, 01 Oct 2026 09:30:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-10-01T09:32:34.055Z |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Kim ZetterSecurityOct 1, 2026 5:30 AMThe Secrets of a US Spyware KingIn an exclusive interview with WIRED, Paragon Solutions CEO Andrew Boyd reveals the limits of the company’s promise to keep bad actors from abusing its powerful espionage tool.Photo-Illustration: Jobanny Cabrera; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storySpyware maker Paragon Solutions has long positioned itself as the good guy in an industry seemingly filled with bad ones, vowing to never sell its mobile spyware to authoritarian regimes or ones with poor human rights records.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at WIRED.
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