WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - An official with Meta's

popular WhatsApp chat service said Israeli spyware company

Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including

journalists and members of civil society.

The official said on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a

cease-and-desist letter following the hack. In a statement,

WhatsApp said the company "will continue to protect people's

ability to communicate privately."

Paragon declined to comment.

The WhatsApp official told Reuters it had detected an effort

to hack approximately 90 users of its platform.

The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted

or where they were geographically, saying only that targets

included an unspecified number of people in civil society and

media. He said WhatsApp had since disrupted the hacking effort

and was referring targets to Canadian internet watchdog group

Citizen Lab.

The official declined to discuss how it ascertained that

Paragon was responsible for the hack. He said law enforcement

and industry partners had been informed, but declined to go into

detail.

The FBI did not immediately return a message seeking

comment.

Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton said the discovery

of Paragon spyware targeting WhatsApp users "is a reminder that

mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we

continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use."