What happened: A report released Monday by Italy’s parliamentary intelligence oversight committee, COPASIR, said that Italian intelligence first suspended and then terminated the use of Paragon’s spyware. It is unclear when exactly the contract was cancelled.  

The spyware, called Graphite, can bypass smartphone encryption and extract internal messaging data. It had been supplied to Italy’s foreign intelligence agency, AISE, and domestic agency, AISI, per the report. The Italian government had authorized limited use of the spyware in 2023 and 2024 as part of criminal investigations into suspected terrorism, smuggling and espionage, the committee said.