Updates on Paragon scandal in Italy via Guardian: -Journalist union filed criminal complaint due to Meloni's government not answering Qs. <li>President of 🇮🇹 parliament invoked rule to not respond Qs claiming all unclassified info has been made public.</li> -Italy's foreign intelligence agency AISE, confirmed it is a customer of Paragon in Parliament, and that the the contract is suspended. Still lots of unanswered questions.
the Guardian
Journalists launch legal action against Italian government over spyware claims
Union submits criminal complaint to prosecutors as ministers refuse to answer questions about alleged hacks
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NEW: We have curated a list of people who are working, or are at least associated, with the Department Of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. There have been a few lists like these, and they are great. We have some new details here. https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/the-people-in-elon-musk-doge-universe/
NEW: Apple released a fix for a zero-day bug for iOS and iPadOS that “may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals.” AFAIK this is the first time Apple uses "extremely sophisticated attack" in an official release. At this point, we don't know who abused the flaw, nor against whom.
TechCrunch
Apple fixes iPhone and iPad bug used in an &#039;extremely sophisticated attack&#039; | TechCrunch
Unknown attackers may have exploited a zero-day bug to access data on locked phones, according to Apple.
NEW: We spoke to the Italian journalist who was targeted on WhatsApp with government spyware made by Paragon.  “I feel violated,” Francesco Cancellato told me. “It is actually quite strange for a journalist to be spied on in a Western democracy.” Cancellato is the director of Fanpage.it, which last year published a damning investigation on the youth wing of the current far-right government in Italy.  Full story, which includes the text of the notification he received from WhatsApp, here:
TechCrunch
Journalist targeted on WhatsApp by Paragon spyware: &#039;I feel violated&#039; | TechCrunch
An Italian investigative journalist said he was the target of a spyware attack disclosed by WhatsApp.