Paragon Solutions, the US spyware maker recently merged with REDLattice, has long portrayed itself as the responsible alternative in a controversial industry. But after WhatsApp alleged that Paragon's Graphite spyware was used against journalists and activists in over 20 countries, the company canceled its contracts with Italian intelligence agencies without ever checking whether the allegations were true. CEO Andrew Boyd told WIRED that Italy was simply "not worth it, from a risk perspective" and that no investigation was conducted.
Boyd's interview revealed that Paragon has no technical way to detect customer misuse. The company cannot see who its clients target or what data they extract, and it has no kill switch to disable a customer's access. The only lever Paragon has is halting 24-hour support and software updates, which Boyd says would render the spyware ineffective within about 12 hours. He described this arrangement as a balance between privacy and security, arguing that customers would not buy the product if Paragon could see their sensitive targeting information.
Critics, including Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton, say Paragon's approach is less accountable than that of NSO Group, the Pegasus maker. NSO publishes transparency reports, claims to keep tamper-proof logs, and says it has a kill switch for abuse cases. Paragon, by contrast, has no access to logs and no mandatory logging. Boyd says government oversight bodies can investigate using logs if they choose, but the company itself takes no role in verifying how its spyware is used.