Millions of WhatsApp users across at least 24 countries have been exposed to a dangerous spyware attack, raising serious concerns

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.

Mark Zuckerberg-led company Meta said about 90 high-risk WhatsApp users from more than 20 countries across the world have experienced zero-click attack.

WhatsApp, used by millions of people around the world, says its users were hacked by the Paragon Solutions spyware company. The World's Host Marco Werman speaks with John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab,

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

Italy's government said on Wednesday that seven mobile phone users in the country had been targeted by spyware on Meta Platforms' WhatsApp messaging service, and it called the incident "particularly serious".

A spyware attack linked to Paragon Solutions has affected WhatsApp users in over two dozen countries, including Italy. Targeting journalists and activists, the government is investigating the incident,