Italian Prosecutors Confirm Journalist Was Hacked with Paragon Spyware

In a press release sent to journalists on Thursday, Italian public prosecutors' offices in Rome and Naples confirmed that journalist Francesco Cancellato was indeed hacked with spyware made by Paragon Solutions. This confirmation is the first independent acknowledgment of a hack targeting Cancellato, who is the director of the news website Fanpage.

According to the press release, a technical report concluded that the phones of Cancellato and immigration activists Giuseppe Caccia and Luca Casarini showed traces of having been infected with spyware in the "early hours" of December 14, 2024. The execution of three consecutive attacks on the same night suggests that they may have been part of the same infection campaign.

The full report is not yet public, but Italian judicial authorities inspected the Paragon spyware server used by intelligence agency AISI to target the phones of its targets. They found evidence of operations against Caccia and Casarini, but no evidence of an operation against Cancellato. It remains unclear who hacked Cancellato's phone.

The story is a significant development in the ongoing spyware scandal in Italy, which has seen similar cases in Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain. In January 2025, Cancellato and around 90 other people, including journalists and members of civil society, were alerted by WhatsApp that they had been targeted with Paragon spyware made by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli-based company now owned by American private equity firm AE Industrial.

Italian authorities have denied being behind the hack on Cancellato. In response to a question by the journalist during a press conference in January, far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that her government "is offering all its assistance and all the answers it can provide to help clarify this issue." However, Cancellato has expressed frustration with the lack of clarity from the government, which he believes has remained silent whenever possible for a year.

Researchers at Citizen Lab have previously investigated the Paragon cases in Italy. In response to the scandal, Paragon canceled its contracts with its Italian government customers. Apart from Caccia, Casarini, and Cancellato, there were several other people in Italy who were identified as spyware targets.

John Scott-Railton, one of the Citizen Lab researchers who investigated the Paragon cases in Italy, said that the new revelation about Cancellato's hack "raises serious questions about why no confirmation was surfaced in prior official investigations by the Italian authorities." The case highlights the importance of transparency and accountability in the use of spyware.

In conclusion, the confirmation that Francesco Cancellato was hacked with Paragon spyware is a significant development in the ongoing spyware scandal in Italy. It raises serious questions about the use of spyware and the need for greater transparency and accountability from governments and intelligence agencies.