ICE, phones and encrypted applications that can hack Israel -made spyware provides access to software | Ice (USA Migration and Customs Protection)

US immigration representatives will be able to access one of the most sophisticated hacking vehicles in the world after a decision to progress with a contract with the Paragon Solutions, a company that can be used to hack any mobile phone, including Trump administration and can be used to hack any mobile phone, including encrypted applications.

The Department of Internal Security first signed a contract with Paragon, which belongs to a US company. At the end of 2024Under Biden’s administration. However, Wired, which was reported at that time, was waiting for a $ 2 million contract to ensure that the US government complies with an executive order that restricts the use of spyware.

This pause has been removed now Public supply documentsListing the US immigration and customs conservation (ICE) as a contract agency.

This means that one of the most powerful hidden cyber weapons produced outside the United States is in the hands of an agency that has been repeatedly accused by civil and human rights groups of violating people’s final process rights.

The story was first by journalist Jack Poulson Each All-Source Intelligence Sebet Bulletin.

Neither paragon nor Ice did not respond to the request for comments immediately.

When it is successfully deployed against a goal, hack software – called graffiti – can enter any phone. Essentially, by seizing the control of the mobile phone, the user – in this case, ICE – not only monitor where an individual is, he can read his messages, look at his photos, and at the same time, and at the same time, he can open and read the information kept in encrypted applications such as WhatsApp or Signal. Spyware, such as graphite, can also be used as a listening device through manipulation of the phone recorder.

One Executive order signed by Biden management He tried to establish some railings around the US government’s use of spyware. He said that the US cannot make operational usage of commercial spyware, which poses important counter -intelligence or security risks for the United States Government or improper risks by a foreign government or foreign person ”. The Biden management also took an extraordinary step to place one of Paragon’s competing spy software manufacturers on a trade department of NSO Group on a black list, and that the company deliberately supplies the phones of opposition to foreign governments, human rights activists and journalists to “target the maliciously”.

Paragon tried to distinguish himself from NSO Group. Unlike NSO, who previously sold spyware to Saudi Arabia and other regimes, he said he was doing business only with democracies. He also said that there is no tolerance policy and that he would cut the government customers who use spy software to target members of civil society like journalists. Paragon refuses to explain who his customers are and said that his customers did not have an idea of ​​how they use technology against goals.

Spyware manufacturers such as Paragon and NSO, products are intended to be used to prevent crime and terrorist attacks, he said. However, the software of both companies has been used in the past to target innocent people, including individuals perceived as enemies of government.

Senior research at the Citizen Laboratory at the University of Toronto, John Scott-Reilton, is one of the leading experts in the world. Spyware such as graphite was abused by governmentsHe said that such vehicles were designed for dictatorships, not democracies built on freedom and protection of individual rights ”.

“The invasive, the secret hack power is corrupted. So there is a spy software scandal pile that grows in democracies, including Paragon’s graffiti,” he said.

Paragon broke their ties with Italy after it was revealed that 90 people were targeted with spyware, including journalists and civil society members in two dozen countries. Individuals targeted by the Italian government included human rights activists criticizing Italy’s relations with Libya. A few journalists were targeted, but who ordered these attacks is still unclear.

In the past, the US government has resisted using spy software technology outside the United States due to concerns that any company selling technology to more than one state institution in the world represents a potential security risk.

“As long as the same paid spy software technology goes to more than one government, there is a risk of intelligence. “Shorter than Paragon canceled all foreign conventions, and I’m not sure how it went.”

Nadine Farid Johnson, the Policy Director of Columbia University Knight University, who was dedicated to free speech advocate, said that the news about the ICE contract joined the concerns of civilian freedom surrounding the “ICE’s budget and authority. He also called on the Congress to disable and limit the conditions in which spyware can be deployed.

Farid Johnson said, “Spyware like Paragon’s graffiti pose a deep threat to free speech and privacy,” Farid Johnson said. “It has already been used against journalists in the world, human rights defenders and political opponents. The silent abolition of the stopping business order increases the possibility that some of the executive branch moves without depending on the government’s own veterinary needs.”