Father Mattia Ferrari Spied on Like Casarini Says NGO

Rome: Father Mattia Ferrari, the chaplain aboard the NGO-run migrant rescue vessel Mediterranea Saving Humans, received a warning from Meta about being targeted by hacking software allegedly used by unidentified government entities in February 2024, the organization announced on Monday. The notification to Father Ferrari mirrored the alert sent to Luca Casarini, the organization’s founder and operations chief, who also claimed to have been spied on since February 2024.

According to Ansa News Agency, Meta’s warning to Father Ferrari and Casarini occurred simultaneously on February 8, 2024. Members of Mediterranea, including Ferrari and Casarini, were allegedly spied on using the Paragon Solutions’ ‘Graphite’ military-grade hacking software, Mediterranea reported.

The Citizen Lab, a research team from the University of Toronto, is investigating the alleged hacking activities on behalf of Mediterranea. Senior researcher John Scott Railton indicated that being targeted by a government-supported attack suggests that advanced technologies may have been used for monitoring, possibly extending to their contacts.

Mediterranea reported that Meta stated the hacking software is capable of collecting data from various platforms, including emails, text messages, Telegram, Skype, Viber, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Signal, and WhatsApp.

Earlier this month, the NGO’s legal team, represented by attorneys Fabio Lanfranca and Serena Romano, filed a legal complaint in Palermo. They called for an investigation into who allegedly ordered the surveillance of Luca Casarini’s phone using Paragon Solutions’ ‘Graphite’ hacking software.

Additionally, Casarini and Francesco Cancellato, the editor-in-chief of the online investigative news outlet Fanpage, were reported as among the targets in Italy earlier this month.