A US Spyware King

Paragon Solutions, now part of US firm AE Industrial Partners and merged with REDLattice, markets itself as a “responsible” maker of mobile spyware yet was accused by WhatsApp of its Graphite tool infecting more than 60 people across 20+ countries, including journalists and activists. Rather than investigate those claims, Paragon abruptly canceled two Italian contracts after the allegations surfaced; CEO Andrew Boyd told WIRED the company “fired” Italy for risk reasons and did not seek details from WhatsApp or researchers at Citizen Lab. Boyd admitted Paragon has no technical way to see who customers target or what data they extract, no real-time kill switch, and can only disable 24/7 support and updates - actions he says render the system ineffective within about 12 hours. Paragon pitches lack of access to logs as privacy-preserving and relies on vetting customers instead of internal oversight.

Security researchers and lawmakers call that posture reckless: Citizen Lab’s John Scott‑Railton says Paragon has less transparency and fewer contractual protections against abuse than rivals such as NSO Group, and Senator Ron Wyden warns tools without oversight are “inevitably abused.” Paragon’s roots in Israeli Unit 8200, a reported $900 million acquisition to gain US market access, and Boyd’s US intelligence background illustrate how commercial spyware firms are repositioning to win Western contracts while retaining opaque controls - raising questions about whether the industry can self-regulate.