Francesco Nicodemo, a distinguished political communications strategist and former Democratic Get together communications director, has been recognized as a brand new goal within the increasing Paragon adware surveillance marketing campaign.
The revelation marks a regarding escalation within the scope of refined digital espionage operations focusing on political figures in Italy.
Nicodemo, who at present leads the communications company Lievito, found the breach on January 31, 2025, when he obtained a suspicious WhatsApp message whereas touring in Vienna.
The company has managed 13 election campaigns all through 2024, together with profitable center-left victories in Perugia, Liguria, and Umbria.
The adware an infection remained lively on Nicodemo’s Android system even after he switched to an iPhone, with the compromised telephone sitting unused at his residence.
Fanpage safety researchers recognized the assault sample after cross-referencing comparable incidents involving journalists and activists.
The timing of the surveillance coincided with a number of high-profile regional elections, elevating questions on potential espionage focusing on opposition political methods and communications.
John Scott Railton from Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog group, contacted Nicodemo a number of instances by way of worldwide calls earlier than confirming the breach.
The researcher emphasised the severity of the assault, noting that solely a small variety of Italian targets have been chosen for this specific espionage operation.
The compromised system probably uncovered delicate communications with Democratic Get together parliamentarians, election candidates, and senior occasion officers.
An infection Vector and Supply Mechanism
The Paragon Graphite adware makes use of a classy multi-stage an infection course of that begins with a misleading WhatsApp message showing to originate from legit WhatsApp Assist infrastructure.
In contrast to conventional phishing assaults that require consumer interplay with malicious hyperlinks, this adware variant can set up persistence by way of zero-click exploitation methods.
The malware leverages vulnerabilities in messaging protocols to deploy surveillance modules able to extracting messages, name logs, and placement information from each lively and inactive gadgets.
Safety consultants word that the adware maintains operational functionality even when the goal system is powered down, suggesting superior firmware-level compromise methods that bypass normal working system safety controls.
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