Is ExpressVPN Safe to Use?
Popular VPN service ExpressVPN was recently sold to Kape Technologies, a company with a shady history that some users say undermines VPN privacy.
Kape bills itself as a cybersecurity and digital privacy firm, but the company was previously known as Crossrider and was notorious for spreading data-tracking adware . Kape was founded by a billionaire convicted of insider trading and a former Israeli surveillance agent.
Along with the concerns raised about ExpressVPN’s new parent company, it was also recently revealed that ExpressVPN’s CIO Daniel Guerick was facing illegal hacking charges for helping the UAE with cyberattacks against other governments. This raises concerns about the security of ExpressVPN as a product, but ExpressVPN isn’t the only VPN under scrutiny.
Cape also owns three other VPN companies – Cyberhost, Private Internet Access (PIA), and ZenMate – in addition to ExpressVPN. All four Kape-owned VPNs operate as separate companies, and while there’s no evidence that these companies are mishandling your data or engaging in suspicious activity, there are also reasons to avoid them if you’re serious about privacy.
Privacy and malware concerns
First, let’s talk about privacy. Prior to its acquisition, ExpressVPN was a privately held company based in the British Virgin Islands, which is safer for privacy than other countries and therefore a preferred jurisdiction for a VPN company.
While the company continues to operate primarily outside the British Virgin Islands, Kape, its parent company, is based in the UK. On the one hand, the UK has privacy-friendly GDPR laws, but it is also part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance between the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, which is generally considered “not secure” to use for serious anonymity and privacy. data.
This means that, in theory, Kape can collect and share any user data that these VPNs store, in particular account data such as names, email addresses, and payment information, regardless of where these companies officially operate.
Should I be worried?
So, to recap: ExpressVPN is now owned by a UK-based company that used to produce adware under a different name, and could theoretically share user account data with Five Eyes countries. On top of that, we now know that one of its executives has a dark past that calls into question ExpressVPN’s privacy goals. Sounds pretty bad. But is there any real evidence that ExpressVPN is actually spying on its users, promoting adware, or undermining their privacy?
Not at the moment.
Some users claim that ExpressVPN slows down their PC, but these individual reports have not been confirmed and no one has suggested a possible cause for the apparent slowdowns. This does not mean that these claims are outright false, mind you, just that they should not be taken as concrete damning evidence.
The thing is, all four VPNs owned by Kape are “no logs” services – meaning they don’t track browser activity or connection logs, so they don’t have any browser data to work with. In particular, ExpressVPN regularly submits its code to third-party audits in order to back up its claims of no logs and check the app for malware and other vulnerabilities. So far, all audits have returned clean. They have access to your account information, which some users may find inappropriate, but this is a common practice for almost any online company. Regular users shouldn’t have to worry about this any more than you worry about sharing your credit card information with Netflix or Amazon.
However, despite all the evidence that ExpressVPN is not a fake with adware that steals your data and sells it to third parties and foreign governments, we are still not convinced that you should use ExpressVPN as well as Cyberghost, PIA or Zenmate. for one simple reason: monopolization.
While the four VPN companies that Kape owns may appear to be “competitors” at first glance, these companies all end up making money for Kape, with Kape managing their business strategies and privacy policies. The more companies Cape owns, the less incentive those products have to compete or adopt aggressive privacy policies.
Of course, one would assume that VPN browsers would spot any untrusted or obviously suspicious activity, right? Well, in addition to buying VPN companies, Kape is also buying up VPN review sites. We do not claim that there is evidence that Kape interferes with these publications or that they are being pressured to give Kape products a higher rating, but anyone can see a clear conflict of interest here.
To be clear, ExpressVPN, Cyberghost, PIA, and ZenMate are suitable for general users. But if you’re serious about data privacy, online anonymity, and the health of the VPN market in general, we suggest looking for independent VPNs that prioritize privacy and transparency rather than backing big companies looking to gobble up the entire market and therefore discourage. competition, innovation and consumer-oriented policies are among the products it owns.
This story was updated on Friday, February 4, 2022 to clarify that Crossrider did not create ads on its platform.