WhatsApp told TechCrunch that it believed the hacking campaign happened in December, and that it sent a cease and desist letter to Paragon. Idan Nurick, the CEO of Paragon, did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn. AE Industrial did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the chat service, an Israeli company called Paragon Solutions used group chats and PDFs to target the individuals.

By Raphael Satter WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An official with Meta Platforms' popular WhatsApp chat service said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.