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Meta had already reported a cyberattack on 90 WhatsApp users from "two dozen countries" a week ago.

(Bild: tashatuvango)

A cyberattack on the messenger service WhatsApp, which belongs to Meta, has apparently also affected people with telephone numbers from 14 EU countries, including Austria. This was announced by the Italian government on Wednesday evening, citing the law firm of WhatsApp's EU branch.

A week ago, Meta had already announced a cyberattack on 90 WhatsApp users from "two dozen countries" using software from the US-Israeli surveillance company Paragon. Following the discovery of the attack, Paragon was sent a cease-and-desist letter, according to the announcement on January 31.

Paragon CEO John Fleming later informed the specialist portal TechCrunch that the US government and unnamed democracies "allied with the USA" were among the customers of the software. However, according to the contract, customers are prohibited from unlawfully attacking journalists and civil society figures, he emphasized.

The company was founded in Tel Aviv in 2019 with the participation of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. In 2024, it was sold to the private equity company AE from the USA. According to the Israeli portal "Ynetnews", Paragon sees itself as a victim in the matter. The company is the "scapegoat" for Meta's efforts to legally combat any breach of WhatsApp encryption, company insiders told the portal. Paragon is ready for a legal dispute with the tech giant.

At the same time, the company affirmed that it would cut ties with those customers who had used the "Graphite" software unlawfully. As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Thursday, Paragon has now withdrawn access to its software from the Italian authorities.

Telephone numbers from 14 EU countries affected
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said on Wednesday evening that it had asked the National Agency for Cybersecurity to investigate the matter. The espionage attack had targeted journalists and activists in particular.

The agency was also informed that the spyware was found on WhatsApp users in 13 other EU countries besides Italy - Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Further information on which persons or organizations in Austria are affected by the espionage is not yet known.

Critics of the Italian government affected
In a statement, Meloni's office announced that the cyber security authority had been informed of seven confirmed cases of espionage attacks in Italy. The editor-in-chief of the well-known Italian news portal Fanpage, Francesco Cancellato, a well-known activist for migrant rescue, Luca Casarini, and five other people were victims of the espionage attack, according to the statement.

Casarini is often criticized by pro-government media in Italy for the work of his migrant rescue charity. He has been prosecuted for allegedly aiding illegal immigration. However, he said he did not know who was behind the attempt to spy on him. "This is a violation of democracy," he said, according to media reports.

According to earlier media reports, the Libyan activist Husam El Gomati, who lives in Sweden, is also affected. He is a critic of the migration agreement between Italy and Libya and speaks out against corruption by the Libyan authorities. He recently told the British newspaper "Guardian" that he is now concerned that his contacts in Libya could be at risk.