Private Internet Access bought out

i meant tunnel bear my bad thanks for catching that

Admittedly I got this quote block from a user on another forum, which is from this article https://restoreprivacy.com/cyberghost/

In 2017 Knapp sold CyberGhost to an Israeli company called Crossrider for €9.2 million.

Crossrider changed its name to “Kape Technologies” in 2018 – for reasons that we’ll explain below.

Now here’s where things get interesting. When you research the company Crossrider (now Kape) you learn it is a company known for infecting devices with malware.

When you research the company Crossrider, you find numerous articles about Crossrider malware and adware, such as this article from Malwarebytes:

Crossrider offers a highly configurable method for its clients to monetize their software. The common method to infect end-users is software bundlers. The installers usually resort to browser hijacking. Targeted browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and sometimes Opera. Crossrider not only targets Windows machines but Macs as well.

PUP.Optional.Crossrider installs are typically triggered by bundlers that offer software you might be interested in and combine them with adware or other monetizing methods.

According to Malwarebytes and many other reputable online security websites, Crossrider was hiding malware in software bundlers, which would then infect the user’s computer with “adware or other monetizing methods”.

While some may dismiss this as old “history”, recent articles from 2018 illustrate how Crossrider malware is still deceiving users and infecting computers with fake Adobe Flash updates:

With such a troubling history, it appears that the parent company attempted to distance itself from its own past. In 2018, Crossrider decided to change its name to Kape Technologies.

As the CEO admitted here, the name change was an attempt to distance Kape from shady “past activities”:

The decision to rename the company, explains Erlichman was due to the strong association to the past activities of the company as well as the need to enhance the consumer facing brand for the business.

CyberGhost even hinted at this ironic conflict of interest in their blog post:

While CyberGhost focused on privacy and security from day one, Crossrider started out as a company that distributed browser extensions and developed ad tech products. Quite the opposite of what we did.

Reading through the Terms and Conditions, I did find this excerpt:

You understand that CyberGhost undertakes no responsibility for your actions. In case of statutory violations by the user, Crossrider may cooperate with public or private authorities at its sole discretion as provided by law.

This is “lawyer speak” for saying that the parent company can and will cooperate with third parties when it deems necessary.

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I left CG for PIA because their service was shit and because of what @2FA just mentioned.

Fingers crossed it doesn’t affect their exemplary service!

Nothing. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
This scene from The Wire came to mind when people talk about PIA’s death because of purchase by KT(not NSA). :crazy_face::slightly_smiling_face:

Weird that they pick it out as an Israeli company… wonder why that is?

This would make sense since they changed their corporate structure and shifted their focus away from their previous business.

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Israel is like the king of internet security. They commit lots of money to cyber security not only for their own country but also for others. I believe the Israeli government funded like 300 security companies in small countries like Singapore.

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I’m guessing since the nation a VPN company based in affects its reputation, something something 14 eyes or whatever.

maybe the king of offensive security?
Whereas perhaps Switzerland is for defensive / privacy security?

I’m thinking protonmail and stuff, vs the group that broke into iphones?

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They aren’t based on Israel though except that they have offices there. They are in multiple counties a and headquartered in Europe.

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True. Israel did manage to get their way into iPhones.

I forgot what Swiss email company it was, but they only will release emails if the Swiss government asked them to. They denied a request from a US city to hand over emails because they didn’t go thru the Swiss government or courts or whatever.

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ProtonMail. But they will cooperate with law enforcement when asked and within the law, and will give them information (including the US) before they have a court order as well when they believe they will get one and it’s time sensitive.

There’s nothing wrong with following the law, people get all worked up over the legal wording but there is no company on earth who won’t follow the law.

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I can’t speak for others, but I don’t have a problem with info being given for a warrant.
It’s more the pervasive invasive scraping of data regardless of need, want or use.

I have a problem with that. If a service implies they are protecting your data and then hands it over to anyone, thats a no no. Not that a VPN protects you really, but if the gubmint says hand over the logs and they do then they’re dead to me.

EBi1XrF

Then you may as well go live in a cave, because everyone has to follow the law and if a company is given a court order to do something , they do it.

The plan is a cabin in the woods.

Caves are for grugtribe.

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46:42

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He asked the company that sponsors his show to go over what’s changing with the acquisition. He then said he is deferring to his audience to determine whether or not to continue the sponsorship. I don’t understand the last part if the first part comes through with net positives.

:point_up: For those of you that don’t want to spend 7 minutes sifting through that section of the video.

I think the rationale is to keep the audience trust first and foremost. If the first part comes in positive, but the audience for any reasons don’t trust what PIA will have said because they think it’s fake/not reliable, they will follow the audience to don’t lose their trust.

Maybe his audience will be better than some of the usual conspiracies

And they can totally be trusted right?