Italy’s Spyware Scandal: The Paragon Affair That Shook Italian Democracy 🇮🇹

How an Israeli spyware company’s “Graphite” tool exposed the dark underbelly of digital surveillance in Italy

The Whistleblower That Started It All 📱

Picture this: You’re scrolling through your WhatsApp when suddenly a notification pops up that makes your blood run cold. “Warning: You may have been targeted by state-sponsored attackers.” This isn’t a scene from a cyberthriller — it’s exactly what happened to around 90 WhatsApp users in Italy back in January 2025.

What followed was a digital detective story that would expose one of Europe’s most sophisticated surveillance operations, involving Israeli spyware, Italian intelligence agencies, and a web of activists, journalists, and immigrants whose only crime was seeking safety or speaking truth to power.

Meet Graphite: Pegasus’s Shadowy Cousin 🕵️‍♂️

At the center of this scandal sits Graphite, a military-grade spyware tool developed by Israeli company Paragon Solutions. Like its notorious cousin Pegasus, Graphite can infiltrate mobile phones without detection, providing operators complete access to messages and encrypted communications on apps like WhatsApp and Signal.