I.
I can’t say I’m surprised to learn that spyware maker Paragon “has no technical way to know if customers misuse its software” or a way “to disable customers when misuse occurs” either. And rather than investigate allegations of misuse by Italy in 2025, the company cancelled the two contracts it had with the country’s domestic and foreign intelligence service. Citizen Lab confirmed two journalists and two activists were targeted.
Paragon says its spyware “system is rendered ineffective in about 12 hours” without essential system updates. But in another case, Citizen Lab found that Russia used Cellebrite – a different tool – to extract information from an activist’s phone after the company had cancelled the contract. So if there’s a will, there’s a way.
II.
I spoke to RFE/RL for an article on Oxygen Forensics, the digital forensics firm which allegedly concealed its Russian ownership from U.S. authorities. Russian ownership does not mean the company is doing anything suspicious… but legitimate companies typically do not structure themselves the way Oxygen Forensics has done.
III.
I’ll be in London later this month to speak about journalism security and source protection ahead of CIJ’s Logan Symposium! If you’re in town and want to learn more about the rise of London’s private intelligence industry, I highly recommend you grab yourself a ticket to the Symposium.
IV.
Friday is a publicly available, searchable archive of declassified Cold War documents on Soviet espionage. Looks like a fantastic resource for my future Journalist and Spy posts.