WhatsApp says its users targeted by Israeli spyware company Paragon | Social Media News [Video]

An official at Meta’s popular WhatsApp chat service has said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions targeted 90 of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.

The official told the Reuters news agency on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack.

The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted but confirmed that WhatsApp is referring targets to the Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab.

He declined to say how WhatsApp ascertained that Paragon was responsible for the breach. He said law enforcement and industry partners had been informed, but would not go into detail.

In a statement, WhatsApp said the company “will continue to protect people’s ability to communicate privately”.

WhatsApp also told the United Kingdom’s Guardian newspaper that it had “high confidence” the users in question had been targeted and “possibly compromised”.

Paragon declined to comment.

Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton told Reuters that the discovery …