In an open letter released today, June 19, 2025, Access Now alongside several leading human rights and press freedoms groups are demanding accountability and answers from Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions and its majority owner AE Industrial Partners, after newly released findings from Citizen Lab confirmed the use of the company’s Graphite spyware to target two journalists. These findings build on the original investigation that confirmed Paragon’s spyware against two humanitarian workers.
Paragon claims to sell their spyware to democracies, but this hasn’t stopped governments from using it to spy on journalists and members of civil society. Cutting ties with Italy, only after being publicly exposed, is too little, too late, and doesn’t remedy the harm caused – Paragon has a duty to deliver justice to victims.Rand Hammoud, Surveillance Campaign Lead at Access Now
Confirmed targets of Paragon spyware include journalist Ciro Pellegrino, Luca Casarini, and Giuseppe Caccia, individuals involved in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, and an anonymous prominent European journalist.
Spyware must never be used against journalists and humanitarian workers for doing their job. Vendors have the responsibility to ensure their company’s compliance with international human rights norms outlined in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.Rand Hammoud, Surveillance Campaign Lead at Access Now
Access Now and signatories are demanding Paragon Solutions and AE Industrial Partners immediately:
- Ensure Italian authorities can no longer access or use Graphite spyware;
- Publish a list of current and former clients, including those dropped for human rights abuses;
- Outline the safeguards in place to detect, monitor, report misuse of its spyware in real time;
- Disclose what data is collected from targeted devices, where it is stored, under which jurisdiction, and who has access to it;
- Implement a remediation process to support individuals harmed by the abuse of its spyware to seek justice; and
- Confirm whether Paragon has an internal whistleblowing system where employees can safely and confidentially raise concerns.