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Hello! Thank you for linking to this interesting and well written article. Yes, it has been highlighted by Windscribe, by us, and by multiple sources as early as 2022. For example: https://airvpn.org/forums/topic/53136-vpn-companies-relationship-mesh/?tab=comments#comment-189777 and you may also like to check the search results: https://airvpn.org/search/?q=crossrider The company name, VAT ID and the Registration Code at the Chamber of Commerce of Italy is written at the bottom of each web site page. Through the European Commission VIES you can verify the company data by entering the VAT ID: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/vat-validation If you have a subscription to a business intelligence and analytics reporting companies, for example Dun & Bradstreet, you can also get more information such as business reliability, solvency and so on, which, when correlated to other information, for example donations to specific organizations, can provide you with at least clues of what you may look for. Kind regards

Crossrider's (previous Kape's name) business was tied to malware too. One of the proves was given by Malwarebytes, source https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2018/04/new-crossrider-variant-installs-configuration-profiles-on-macs Quote: "Obviously, not all parts of this chain are affiliated with Crossrider, but the chumsearch domain imposed by the configuration profile [one of malicious parts included in cr packages] definitely is. ". Crossrider could not be not aware of what was happening: through a chain of affiliation and owned domain names monetized from it for years! The thin justification provided by Kape comes too late, when the shit already hit the fan and they could no more hide the truth. "Curiously", they take care to omit some "key information", such as that similar practices were led by section 8200, an Israeli intelligence agency, as reported by an investigation published on Forbes. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/06/09/from-israel-unit-8200-to-ad-men/?sh=63c5cb2e26e2 Not surprisingly, an Isreali 8200 section agent co-founded Crossrider. So to me "former malware" company definition for a company whose monetization was based on affiliation to malware products forcing malicious re-directions to domains owned by that same company has all the criticism accuracy you ask for to be taken seriously. As for the rest of your message, I totally agree, nicely put.

Hello! Very interesting analytical and investigative work by Windscribe disclosing ties (even hidden ones) between VPN companies, publishers, review web sites. Click on node icons to read more details. Very sinister situation at a glance. Note for example how Crossrider (now Kape), well known malware company co-founded by a member of israeli Defense Forces Unit 8200, nowadays controls major VPNs and review web sites: https://embed.kumu.io/9ced55e897e74fd807be51990b26b415#vpn-company-relationships/control-d Kind regards

Yes, a very nice one. Apparently it is perfectly formulated, because it's 100% true and accurate, and it's not formulated here, but there. It's mentioned because Crossrider/Kape was founded by a member of Unit 8200, a cyber spy agency, and its (Crossrider's) primary business was facilitating malware and computer infections. Recently it acquired major VPNs (such as Private Internet Access, Express VPN and CyberGhost) as well as review web sites. In reality in the FT article you mention you can read the interview to Lempert (chairman of the Unit 8200 alumni association and CEO of MER mobile comms group) who claims that 8200 is focusing (the article is 7 years old) on huge data mining, which is exactly extensive surveillance of the Internet, and we could also mention the documents leaked by Snowden, which revealed how Unit 8200, referred to as ISNU, receives raw, unfiltered data of U.S. citizens, as part of a secret agreement with the NSA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Israel_Memorandum_of_Understanding_SIGINT.pdf Are US citizens "bad neighbors" too? Anyway. It's irrelevant whether the purposes of Kape match those of Unit 8200. Kape could be or not a puppet of 8200, you don't know and we don't know, and perhaps it's not, and still that's not the point. The relevance of a member of 8200 founding a company spreading malware and now controlling VPN is the relationships and competence acquired by that member during his/her previous job, used against citizens unconditionally, since Kape operated essentially in browser hijacking, ad injectors and other remunerative computer infections worldwide. Remember for example Gericke ("strangely", he is also ExpressVPN CIO), Adams and Baier: they used their great competence acquired while they worked for US intelligence agencies to assist UAE regime to crack journalists, activists, monarchy political opponents phones and computers, to help UAE suppress or control any possible dissident or uncomfortable journalist. Officially it was not CIA or USIC interest to do that (and actually all three of them have been charged by DoJ for that "job") but anyway they greatly succeeded in their UAE job because they were trained by and had the knowledge of and access to certain technology from their former employers. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-former-us-intelligence-community-and-military-personnel-agree-pay-more-168-million Kind regards

After WeVPN shut down for liquidity problems and OVPN was sold low priced to a big group, after PIA accumulated a stratospheric 35 M USD debt in less than 5 years and was saved only by the huge monetary availability of Crossrider/Kape, after the bankruptcy of additional small and independent VPN in the fresh past, it's reassuring to see that your infrastructure keeps expanding and you stay independent. Way to go! 😍

To be fair, Kape acknowledges the malware incidents, but explains that it was not their doing; bad actors were allegedly able to exploit their framework to write malicious extensions for ad injection. See: https://restoreprivacyDOTcom/kape-technologies-crossrider-malware/ Kape should definitely be denounced and regarded with suspicion for their acquisition of multiple VPN services, because consolidation under one company is bad, and because Kape also now owns some of the best-known VPN review sites that seem to rate Kape's own VPN companies higher than others. It might also be considered suspicious that Kape has partnered with Hutchison 3 Hong Kong (PRC) to provide integrated VPN services for the carrier's customers. However, accuracy in criticism is very important if it is to be taken seriously, so I don't think Kape can be characterized as a "malware" company. Still, I, for one, would never use their services.