Israelischer Spyware-Hersteller Paragon von US-Private-Equity-Riese gekauft | TechCrunch

Paragon, an Israeli spyware maker with a low profile in recent years, was acquired last week by American private equity giant AE Industrial Partners for $500M to $900M.

In 2021, Forbes revealed the existence of Paragon, which didn’t, & still doesn’t, have a website.

Paragon was founded by a group of former Israeli intelligence officers: Ehud Schneorson, former Unit 8200 commander, a renowned Israeli spy agency whose alumni work in cybersecurity private sector, CEO Idan Nurick, CTO Igor Bogudlov, & VP of research Liad Avraham

Forbes reported Paragon offered services to hack phones that allowed access to apps on a target’s phone, such as WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook Messenger, & Gmail. Paragon’s spyware product, called Graphite, has been likened as a competitor of Pegasus, made by NSO Group, & similar spyware products.

Last month, The New Yorker cited a Paragon source who said that the ICE deal came after a vetting process in which Paragon reportedly demonstrated that it had controls in place to prevent customers in other countries from hacking U.S. residents.

In October, Wired reported U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement had signed a one-year contract worth $2 million with Paragon to acquire a “fully configured proprietary solution,” which included licenses, hardware, warranties, maintenance, & training.

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