Cancellato is the first target to come forward following the disclosure of a hacking campaign carried out using spyware allegedly made by Paragon Solutions, as WhatsApp claimed on Friday.

WhatsApp told media outlets that it had "high confidence" that journalists and activists were targeted by Paragon spyware and that they were "possibly compromised." It did not provide names of people it believed to be compromised.

WhatsApp has revealed it has disrupted a spyware hacking campaign targeting journalists and prominent members of civil society. The spyware in question belongs to Paragon, a commercial spyware company founded by former Israeli intelligence officers, which Meta-owned WhatsApp has directly implicated in the campaign.

An official at Meta’s popular WhatsApp chat service has said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions targeted 90 of its users, including journalists and members of civil society. The official told the Reuters news agency on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack.

A major scandal involving Israeli spyware firm Paragon has rocked Italy and Europe, sparking outrage across the region. Reports have revealed that journalists and activists in Italy were spied on using Paragon’s surveillance software,