Kape Technologies, formerly Crossrider, now owns 4 top VPNs

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PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston A holding company with a controversial history — Kape Technologies — announced this month that it had purchased a
[See the full post at: Kape Technologies, formerly Crossrider, now owns 4 top VPNs]

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WSGeo, fisher75, rc primak, lmacri, oldfry, AmbularD, SueW

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So bottom line, is ExpressVPN no longer trustworthy?  You’d think it would be against the stockholders’ best interests to buy a highly-rated, trusted and presumably profitable VPN and turn it into a crappy or downright evil one that nobody would want to use, but who knows anymore.

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AmbularD wrote:

So bottom line, is ExpressVPN no longer trustworthy?

You should treat it as no longer trusted.

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Steve, rc primak

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Interesting point about the Make Use Of article cited in this article (https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/avoid-bad-vpns/):

The end of the MUO article explicitly endorses ExpressVPN, CyberGhost and Private Internet Access as trustworthy VPNs. Didn’t Brian go to great lengths to prove exactly the opposite? So how can we trust any of the information conveyed in the MUO article?

The remainder of Brian’s article contains what I believe to be useful and valuable information. I will use this article as a reference in the event that I find myself looking for a VPN service.

And yes, it is true that the free VPNs should not be trusted. As for Android VPNs, the problems with these apps reflect the generally poor quality of smartphone security apps. That won’t change until Android users demand better apps.

Unfortunately, it’s the younger users of security tech who seem to most frequently fall for the bad apps and services. At least that’s my impression. This is one decision where peer pressure and popularity are not good guides to making the best selection.

-- rc primak

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Steve

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rc primak wrote:

Interesting point about the Make Use Of article cited in this article (https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/avoid-bad-vpns/):

The end of the MUO article explicitly endorses ExpressVPN, CyberGhost and Private Internet Access as trustworthy VPNs. Didn’t Brian go to great lengths to prove exactly the opposite? So how can we trust any of the information conveyed in the MUO article?

And MUO use affiliate links to earn commission on their recommended VPNs (as do the CNET, PCMag etc. articles also linked by Brian).

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rc primak

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Brian – it’s really scary, disappointing and concerning what your article describes! I have no idea what is going on with this stuff until I read it here.  I have NordVPN, thankfully, which I use when I am away from home. I have secured my router to the best of my ability.  But all bets are off when I am using Wifi outside my home!  I have concerns about Wifi at friend’s and family’s homes.  Friends, I love them dearly, but most are COMPLETELY clueless about online security and therefore, their routers may or may not be secure. Who knows? They don’t know or care. Family too.  I run Shields Up on others’ routers and get interesting results. From open ports to failed tests (e.g. responding to a ping). My sister, who is married to an IT professional, has an EERO router and it failed a few Shields up tests. I didn’t ask if he looked at the router config when he installed it.  Maybe it’s running the defaults. You know, people don’t appreciate it when you come into their home and tell them their router is not secure!! I think they should 🙂

All this to say – what am I to do when not at home?  I run my VPN.  But now, we have to move to an apartment to take care of family.  The apartment is owned by a family member. We are going there on 10/16. I plan to run router security tests and tell them if I find problems. They may or may not be willing to make changes. If it is not safe – will my data be safe if I use NordVPN ?  What about logging onto bank account? Can I do that using Nord and know it’s 100% safe? This is a rental apartment, who knows what’s been done on that router???  Or do I have to use celluar every time I want to logon to something that I cannot afford to have compromised?

I guess the bottom line question is this:  how to secure my data when I have to be in an apartment for a period of time where I do not control the router or the online security?

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rc primak

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Alex5723 wrote:

AmbularD wrote:

So bottom line, is ExpressVPN no longer trustworthy?

You should treat it as no longer trusted.

Right.

ExpressVPN has been at or near the top of VPN ratings, including by respectable sources, for a number of years now. This intrigued me because ExpressVPN was among those who refused to disclose who owned them. That should be one of the most basic pieces of information that is available to customers. So now I guess we know why they didn’t want to disclose who owns them.

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rc primak, Cybertooth

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Just wait a few months. Something negative will come out about NordVPN.

But I don’t know of anything bad about that Company or its VPN services at this time.

There are do it yourself open source VPN options, but someone has to host those too.

-- rc primak

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Great work, Brian, (and by the RestorePrivacy site). Thanks.

The other great reveal in the story is about j2 Global. how we have to be skeptical of even the reporting – dare I say ‘journalism’ – these days.

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https://restoreprivacy.com/kape-technologies-crossrider-malware/

Crossrider delivered a vehicle for malware distribution via a barcelona FC app, and crossrider is under the umbrella of Kape Technologies :)/

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