At least three prominent journalists in Europe have had their phones targeted by a secretive commercially available spyware, according to a report published Thursday by Citizen Lab, a group of digital researchers at the University of Toronto.
The findings also offer new forensic evidence and unusual glimpses of the kinds of surveillance, frequently at close range, that moved from the realms of high-level politics and terrorism into the pursuit of lower-level criminal inquiries, such as tracking editors at an investigative news site in Italy.
The report attributes the tool used in these attacks to Paragon’s “Graphite” spyware. Although Paragon insists that its monitoring software is marketed solely to governments for use in fighting crime and preserving national security, the Citizen Lab’s analysis hints at a wider, and more sinister, use of these invasive surveillance technologies against civil society. This follows on from similar controversies with other Israeli spyware companies, such as NSO Group’s Pegasus.
An anonymous European journalist and Italian journalist Ciro Pellegrino, the head of the Naples newsroom for Fanpage.it, were also targeted, Citizen Lab said. it,” were infected with Paragon’s Graphite spyware. Pellegrino was notified by Apple on April 29, 2025 about a mercenary spyware attack and sought the help of Citizen Lab.
Graphite was identified on his iPhone by forensic examination. Moreover, Francesco Cancellato, an editor at Fanpage. it and Pellegrino, a colleague of his, had been contacted by WhatsApp in January 2025 about similar targeting by Paragon and its spyware.
The disclosures emerge as concerns are mounting over the involvement of the Italian government and others in the use of the surveillance software. “If confirmed, any illegal data access is unacceptable,” the EU Commission said and pledged that it would use all means to enforce EU law.
The activities raise serious press freedom and digital privacy concerns in democratic countries at a time when government surveillance is an increasingly important issue for journalists, and make urgent the issue of commercial spyware in the space and the need for transparency and accountability.