ExpressVPN was sold to Kape. Are you safe?

Kape Technologies PLC, a company which changed its name from Crossrider to hide its past, has acquired the popular VPN service ExpressVPN. Express VPN is the fourth VPN company that Kape has acquired (CyberGhost VPN, Zenmate and Private Internet Access) in recent years.

ExpressVPN was a privately held company based in the British Virgin Islands. It has created its own Lightway protocol in which it has complete control.

Most of the features offered by the company are similar to those of other VPN services: ExpressVPN supports desktop and mobile applications, runs on servers located in 94 countries, does not limit bandwidth, allows P2P and does not hold logs, except for technical reasons.

ExpressVPN he said its acquisition by Kape Technologies PLC on the official blog of the company.

"Ανακοινώσαμε το σχέδιό μας να ενταχθούμε στην Kape Technologies, μια εταιρεία εισηγμένη στο Χρηματιστήριο του Λονδίνου, για να προστεθούμε στον σαφή παγκόσμιο ηγέτη στο ψηφιακό privacy. With the support και τους πόρους τους, θα είμαστε σε θέση να καινοτομήσουμε γρηγορότερα και να σας παρέχουμε προστασία από ένα ευρύτερο φάσμα απειλών. Μαζί, θα προωθήσουμε την τεχνολογία της ιδιωτικής ζωής, διατηρώντας σας σταθερά τον έλεγχο της ψηφιακής σας εμπειρίας ακόμη και όταν προκύπτουν νέες απειλές και προκλήσεις."

According to the announcement, ExpressVPN will remain a separate service and everything will remain as it is for the subscribers of the service.

Kape Technologies paid $ 936 million to acquire ExpressVPN, making the market the largest recorded deal on VPN services. Kape, for example, acquired Private Internet Access for one-tenth of the amount two years ago: $ 95,5 million.

Η TechRadar αναφέρει ότι η εξαγορά σήκωσε το πέπλο πίσω από τα επιχειρηματικά μεγέθη της ExpressVPN. Η εταιρεία έχει πάνω από τρία εκατομμύρια συνδρομητές κάτι που τις επέφερε "έσοδα περίπου 279,4 εκατ. δολαρίων το 2020, αυξημένα κατά 37% από το 2019".

It seems that the lucrative VPN services are in the process of integration. Kape has acquired its fourth VPN company, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, subscriber VPN provider.

But the company has a dark past. When he was called Crossrider, he had a bad reputation for making money from potentially unwanted software bids (PuP). Security companies such as Malwarebytes classified Crossrider products as adware. According to reports, founder of the company was a former Israeli agent.

[Forbes] These Ex-Israeli Surveillance Agents Hijack Your Browser To Profit From Ads

It is not clear how influential Kape Technologies is in ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access or its other recent markets. Everything indicates that the companies are independent of the parent company.

Kape's previous activities, however, are a cause for concern. If you forget at some point, the question remains whether integration is good for VPN services in general but for all users worldwide.

Larger companies have more resources that could be used to improve standards and functionalof But they can also be used to raise prices once they dominate the market.