The Trump administration has seemingly revived a stalled $2 million contract with Paragon Solutions (US) Inc., an Israeli spyware company whose products have been accused of facilitating the surveillance of journalists and activists. The deal, which was paused in October to review its compliance with a March 2023 Biden-era executive order, has sparked concerns over the potential risks to app user experience.
According to public procurement databases, a stop work order on the September 2024 agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been lifted, as reported by technology journalist Jack Poulson on his All-Source Intelligence Substack. The deal's specifications are vague, describing an agreement for a "fully configured proprietary solution including license, hardware, warranty, maintenance, and training."
Paragon Solutions' products have been linked to invasive surveillance techniques, including the use of its Graphite program to quietly invade the mobile phone of its target and extract its contents. Critics warn that this could compromise app user experience by allowing unauthorized access to sensitive information.
"Invasive, secret hacking power is corrupting," says John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which has probed the foreign use of Paragon products. "That's why there's a growing pile of spyware scandals in democracies, including with Paragon's Graphite."
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has previously used Graphite against drug traffickers outside the U.S., as reported by The New York Times in 2022.
Paragon was founded by Ehud Schneorson, a former commander of Israel's cyber-spying Unit 8200. In late 2024, AE Industrial Partners, a Florida-based investment group, acquired the company for $500 million, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Paragon bills itself as an ethical cyber firm that only sells to the U.S. and other allied countries. However, critics argue that this raises concerns over app user experience, particularly when considering the company's history of allegedly facilitating surveillance of journalists and activists.
WhatsApp disrupted a hacking campaign targeting about 90 people linked to Paragon in early 2026, and an Italian journalist and several pro-immigration activists said they were among the victims. Analysis by the Citizen Lab think tank suggests two other journalists were targeted.
Paragon claims it terminated contracts in Italy after claiming the Italian government refused its help in investigating whether its products were improperly used in the attack. The company's actions have sparked concerns over app user experience and the potential risks of engaging with companies like Paragon.
The Trump administration has pursued other aggressive intelligence methods as part of its immigration-related operations, including social media surveillance for "anti-American" activity and combing through massive amounts of usually walled-off government housing data to find migrants. As such, the revival of this contract raises concerns over app user experience and the potential risks it poses.