A report by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto reveals potential connections between Ontario’s provincial police force and an Israeli military-grade spyware company named Paragon Solutions. This finding raises concerns about the extent of Canadian authorities’ use of cyberweapons, in light of the country’s delayed efforts to update its privacy laws. The link between Paragon, known for selling Graphite spyware to government clients, and entities in Ontario, including the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), was discovered in the published results. Although the OPP neither confirmed nor denied the use of spyware, they emphasized that any interception of private communications needs judicial authorization as per the Criminal Code. The company, Paragon, now US-owned, asserts its spyware is intended for combatting serious crime and terrorism, despite recent cases where it was reportedly used against an Italian journalist and certain activists supporting immigrants. The Italian government has since suspended its contract with Paragon. There has been controversy over Canada’s use of spyware, particularly after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police admitted in 2022 to using spyware in significant cases. The Citizen Lab’s research suggests a growing ecosystem of spyware capabilities among Ontario-based police services, highlighting a lack of public awareness and the need for law reforms to address security and human rights risks.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/19/ontario-police-force-israeli-spyware