ICE Has Spyware Now
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security agency given an unprecedented $170 billion under the Trump administration’s “big beautiful bill” and charged with carrying out mass deportations, will soon have another powerful tool at its disposal: spyware. The Trump administration this week rescinded a Biden administration order that blocked the ICE from obtaining hacking tools sold by Paragon, the Israeli firm with which it signed a $2 million contract last September. Now ICE will have access to the company’s spyware, including tools for remotely breaking into phones and obtaining their contents and messages.
Paragon has been compared to the more notorious Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, with similar examples of its tools being used to spy on journalists and activists: WhatsApp said earlier this year that it had discovered Paragon’s spyware being used against activists and journalists in Europe, and two Italian media outlets filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors seeking an investigation into the hacking incidents. As a result of that blowup, Italian intelligence services canceled a contract with the company, according to Israeli news outlet Haaretz.
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