Journalist interested in #surveillance | Contributor: @WIRED | @FTM_eu | Covers 🇬🇷 for @RSF_inter | Researcher: @Deakin | 2026 Fellow @techpolicypress
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Joined April 2009
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🇺🇸 Immigration and Customs Enforcement has signed a $2 million contract with 🇮🇱Israeli commercial #spyware vendor Paragon Solutions.
It is unknown whether the contract is for the deployment of Paragon’s flagship product Graphite.
My latest for @WIRED. 👇
wired.com/story/ice-paragon-…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
US 🇺🇸 Senators @CoryBooker and @RonWyden respond to the @citizenlab's latest "AdFection" investigation
cyberscoop.com/targeted-ads-…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
👀 L'inchiesta su Dataflow - l'eccellenza italiana che sviluppa codici per penetrare smartphone e computer con stretti legami con l'intelligence israeliana - pubblicata su @IrpiMedia (@faffa42) è oggi oggetto di un'interpellanza parlamentare firmata dall'onorevole @NFratoianni (che ringrazio per l'attenzione)
irpimedia.irpi.eu/dataflow-c…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
Together with @saskiabricmont and 33 other MEPs from 5 political groups, we urge @Europarl_EN, @EU_Commission, and @EUCouncil to investigate their exposure to zero-click spyware.
More in our letter:
1/2
🇫🇷MP & former minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher says she was targeted by commercial spyware 3 times—twice as a minister & once as an MP. She filed a complaint with France’s domestic intel. agency (DGSI) on 28/09. Pegasus has been ruled out so far, according to Politico.
politico.eu/article/la-deput…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
Australia's nuclear agency targeted with ads linked to spyware that infect devices without a click abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/n…
Despite evidence of widespread #spyware targeting within 🇪🇺EU institutions, the bloc has yet to take its own security problem seriously, let alone introduce EU-wide legislation specifically addressing spyware misuse.
My latest for @techpolicypress
👇
techpolicy.press/despite-spy…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
🚨NEW INVESTIGATION: University of Belgrade Rector who resisted crackdown on students was hacked with zero-click Pegasus.
Authorities raided his offices in March.
Serbia's snap elections are 6 days away.
There are more targets 1/
With @ShareConference citizenlab.ca/research/pegas…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
Just how big was the Israeli “zero-click” malware attack?
@citizenlab researcher @billmarczak tells me, “The ads were at an enormous scale…hundreds of millions of impressions, meaning hundreds of millions of these ads were shown on devices over a period of a few months…even devices that don't get hacked, that aren't the quote, unquote real targets, there is still quite a bit of invasive data collection from those devices. So we're talking on the order of millions and millions of devices.”
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
Bad news.
US District Court denied WhatsApp's motion to hold NSO in contempt for continuing to hack WhatsApp users after a court order barred it from doing so.
The evidence wasn't "clear and convincing" enough. 1/
🇨🇾Company records show that Tal Dilian & Avraham Shahak Avni both held roles in the same Cyprus-registered company, Poltrex, even though Dilian said on Monday that he was being linked with Avni arbitrarily. Both men became widely known in Cyprus through the ‘black van’ surveillance case.
✍️ @MakridesFanis
en.philenews.com/local/black…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
🚨NEW INVESTIGATION: zero-click mercenary spyware hacking via targeted ads.
A normal-looking ad loads. If you're a target, you're infected. No click needed.
To protect yourself, block ads now.
First time it's been confirmed in the wild. We call it #AdFection.
Candiru spyware infections at @AJEnglish. 45+ devices infected.
Same ad pipeline operated by Israeli company Discover-Tech reached NATO, European Parliament, dozens of gov networks & critical infrastructure incl US nuclear giant Westinghouse.
Confiant, which worked with us, found signs ads were displayed at US @DeptofWar, IAEA & ICC.
Investigation ongoing 1/
READ our report by @billmarczak @WolfieChristl, me Astrid Perry, Siena Anstis & Ron Deibert : citizenlab.ca/research/how-d…
Confiant's blog: blog.confiant.com/p/adint-we…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
Last year, @amnesty revealed technical evidence of spyware firms like Intellexa developing tools for zero-click infection through online ads.
We warned of a dangerous new threat to civil society. Now @citizenlab has caught devices at Al Jazeera being hacked via malicious ads. 🧵
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
NEW @citizenlab report We uncovered an Israeli firm using online ads to run vast spy operation
This is the first-ever public confirmation of zero-click mercenary spyware delivered via targeted ads.
45 devices at @AJEnglish confirmed infected
citizenlab.ca/research/how-d…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
Great to see my and @ashl3y_shen’s Silent Lynx (TAG-193/UAT-6275) research featured by @razhael at @Reuters!
Cyber espionage isn’t just for the big players. Our findings shed light on Kazakhstan-linked activity targeting Russia and the wider CIS.
reuters.com/legal/litigation…
Vas Panagiotopoulos retweeted
An Telegram channel who is reselling forensics software like MSAB's XRY Pro, shared the latest Excel sheet on which phones can be unlocked. upload.ee/files/19842959/XRY…
virustotal.com/gui/file/0553…
🇵🇱 Poland’s Pegasus inquiry presented the public part of its final report on Monday, summing up two years of work in a document expected to run to around 700 pages.
Among others, Polish prosecutors revealed that data harvested from mobile phones by the Polish authorities using Pegasus #spyware were transmitted outside Poland and were accessible to NSO Group.
➡️ Chair Magdalena Sroka announced further referrals to prosecutors, including concerning politicians not previously linked to the scandal.
notesfrompoland.com/2026/10/…
More than 100 cases recorded over less than a year, between June 2024 and May 2025, are documented in the report In the Crosshairs 2: An Overview of Digital Threats in Latin America, published by the nonprofit organization Derechos Digitales.
english.elpais.com/internati…
During his keynote address at the SecTor 2026 conference, @rondeibert opined that the 🇺🇸Trump administration and the technology leaders that have allied themselves with the US president are pushing an authoritarian agenda and "techno-fascism" movement.
Additionally, Deibert noted ties between Trump’s inner circle and the #spyware industry: NSO Group, after being acquired by US investors led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds, appointed David Friedman, Trump’s former bankruptcy attorney and ambassador to Israel, as executive chairman.
➡️ "We know they're #lobbying furiously to get off the sanctions list," he said.
Deibert also noted that ICE reactivated its Paragon Solutions contract, previously paused by Biden amid a US crackdown on commercial spyware.
✍️ @DarkReading Rob Wright
darkreading.com/cyber-risk/c…
