An Italian parliamentary committee has confirmed that the government used the Israeli-made spyware Graphite, developed by the offensive cyber company Paragon, to hack the smartphones of several activists working with migrants.
The committee confirmed that Paragon provided Graphite to two Italian agencies, including the country’s external intelligence service, starting in 2023. The version of Graphite provided did not include the ability to activate the phone’s microphone or camera, the report said. Instead, it only enabled its operators access to encrypted communications on the hacked devices.
The report also confirmed that Graphite exploited a vulnerability in WhatsApp that Meta identified and patched in December 2024, one month before the spyware’s activity was publicly disclosed. The vulnerability’s discovery also caused “panic” at Israel’s military intelligence Unit 8200, according to the recent Israeli television report.
The original cell phones were unencrypted and anyone nearby with a receiver could listen in on your call, no?
Thus no illusion of privacy.
There was definitely an illusion.
At the time there indeed was. Similar to how sms is perceived today. But I think that anyone going back to older tech is going to be less ignorant about this today than someone adopting current technology, because hindsight is 20-20. We know the old stuff was insecure. But today’s tech is just tomorrow’s insecure tech.