Deputy Premier and Transport Minister
Matteo Salvini said Friday that the alleged use of Paragon
Solutions' 'Graphite' military-grade hacking software to spy on
scores of activists and journalists in many countries, including
Italy, could be linked to a clash within the nation's
intelligence services, while stressing that this was not his
area of expertise.
"I didn't know this software existed, I don't know who used it
and for what reasons," Salvini said at the presentation of his
League party's new proposal for a 'rottamazione' (demolition) to
enable people involved in tax disputes to extinguish their
cases.
"Clarification is certainly essential in what appears to be
settling of scores within the intelligence services, which play
a fundamental role in the country's stability, security and
democracy.
"There are newspaper reports of secret agents attacking other
secret agents, instead of defending the national interest. This
is certainly worrying.
"I'll avoid saying things I don't know about the spyware or
Paragon. I'll be in Israel on Monday and I'll ask them something
about it".
The mission chief and founder of sea-rescue NGO Mediterranea
Saving Humans Luca Casarini told ANSA on Friday that he will
file a criminal complaint to prosecutors in Palermo on Monday
after being notified that he was among the activists targetted.
Mediterranea Saving Humans on Wednesday said it had received an
official communication from Meta, which manages the WhatsApp
chat service, informing Casarini that his cell phone "had been
violated in a high-level spyware operation, through the use of a
software described as among the most sophisticated in the
world".
Sources said Friday that at least three people at Mediterranea -
perhaps as many as four - were notified that their devices had
been compromised.
The editor-in-chief of online investigative news outlet Fanpage,
Francesco Cancellato, was also among the victims in Italy.
In an exclusive report published on Thursday, The Guardian
newspaper said Paragon Solutions has terminated its client
relationship with Italy, quoting a person familiar with the
matter.
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