An estimated 1.6 billion people rely on VPNs to carry out the most
sensitive tasks online, from watching illegal videos to engaging in sexual
or political activities. But few people know that a considerable chunk of
that market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly
operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that
country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and
Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Previous MintPress News investigations into Israel’s growing control over
the tech industry have outlined how those units have been involved in many
of Israel’s most outrageous hacking, surveillance and assassination
programs, acting as spies and death squads. Unit 8200, for example, has
been the source of much of the world’s most infamous spying software,
including Cellebrite and Pegasus, the program used to snoop on tens of
thousands of the world’s top politicians and journalists, including by
Saudi Arabia, who used it to help track down and kill Washington Post
columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Given this context, justifiable fears arise that control over a vast VPN
empire could add to Israel’s influence over the online information and
security world, creating backdoors for Israeli intelligence to carry out a
vast kompromat operation on users around the globe.

This investigation is part of a series highlighting and detailing the power
of Israel’s growing tech industry to access and control people’s data.

…

…

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/exposed-how-israeli-spies-control-your-vpn/288259/>

<https://archive.md/9hDvd>

D. Ray wrote:
> An estimated 1.6 billion people rely on VPNs to carry out the most
> sensitive tasks online, from watching illegal videos to engaging in sexual
> or political activities. But few people know that a considerable chunk of
> that market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly
> operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that
> country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and
> Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

hmm didnt know that.

which are those vpns?

kazu <f00@0f0.00f> wrote:
> D. Ray wrote:
>> An estimated 1.6 billion people rely on VPNs to carry out the most
>> sensitive tasks online, from watching illegal videos to engaging in sexual
>> or political activities. But few people know that a considerable chunk of
>> that market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly
>> operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that
>> country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and
>> Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
>
>
> hmm didnt know that.
>
> which are those vpns?

ExpressVPN, CyberGhost and Private Internet Access. All three, along with
some other products, belong to very shady Israeli company with ties to
Mossad.

Read full article, it’s quite interesting.

kazu <f00@0f0.00f> wrote in news:54e67023-3197-4886-09da-fd594047ab06
@ichigo.kinoko.kuri:

> D. Ray wrote:
>> An estimated 1.6 billion people rely on VPNs to carry out the most
>> sensitive tasks online, from watching illegal videos to engaging in sexual
>> or political activities. But few people know that a considerable chunk of
>> that market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly
>> operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that
>> country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and
>> Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
>
>
> hmm didnt know that.
>
> which are those vpns?

Most free VPNs are monitored by the company that created them. A few paid
for VPNs have also been caught doing this. If you read security reports even
the Tor browser can be monitored by a few parties.

If you intend to evade such monitoring schemes please check out the services
before you use them.

Any Microsoft, Google(Meta), and probably all so called Smart Phones also
monitor and possibly adjust what you do.

On Oct 20, 2024, D. Ray wrote
(in article<mgZHaiQJMaqnGprQzlTkUEGTDTdHCwbt@news.usenet.farm>):

> An estimated 1.6 billion people rely on VPNs to carry out the most
> sensitive tasks online, from watching illegal videos to engaging in sexual
> or political activities. But few people know that a considerable chunk of
> that market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly
> operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that
> country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and
> Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
>
> Previous MintPress News investigations into Israel’s growing control over
> the tech industry have outlined how those units have been involved in many
> of Israel’s most outrageous hacking, surveillance and assassination
> programs, acting as spies and death squads. Unit 8200, for example, has
> been the source of much of the world’s most infamous spying software,
> including Cellebrite and Pegasus, the program used to snoop on tens of
> thousands of the world’s top politicians and journalists, including by
> Saudi Arabia, who used it to help track down and kill Washington Post
> columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
>
> Given this context, justifiable fears arise that control over a vast VPN
> empire could add to Israel’s influence over the online information and
> security world, creating backdoors for Israeli intelligence to carry out a
> vast kompromat operation on users around the globe.
>
> This investigation is part of a series highlighting and detailing the power
> of Israel’s growing tech industry to access and control people’s data.
>
> …
>
> …
>
> <https://www.mintpressnews.com/exposed-how-israeli-spies-control-your-vpn/2882
> 59/>
>
> <https://archive.md/9hDvd>

Incredibly interesting article. Thank you for sharing this.

In comp.misc Francis Strelok <fr@nc@strelok.com> wrote:
> On Oct 20, 2024, D. Ray wrote
> (in article<mgZHaiQJMaqnGprQzlTkUEGTDTdHCwbt@news.usenet.farm>):
>
>> An estimated 1.6 billion people rely on VPNs to carry out the most
>> sensitive tasks online, from watching illegal videos to engaging in sexual
>> or political activities. But few people know that a considerable chunk of
>> that market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly
>> operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that
>> country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and
>> Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
>
>> …
>>
>> …
>>
>> <https://www.mintpressnews.com/exposed-how-israeli-spies-control-your-vpn/2882
>> 59/>
>>
>> <https://archive.md/9hDvd>
>
> Incredibly interesting article. Thank you for sharing this.
>

This chap has some recommendations and info about independent vpns

https://christitus.com/vpn-tier-list-2024/

On Mon, 21 Oct 2024, Peter Dean wrote:

> In comp.misc Francis Strelok <fr@nc@strelok.com> wrote:
>> On Oct 20, 2024, D. Ray wrote
>> (in article<mgZHaiQJMaqnGprQzlTkUEGTDTdHCwbt@news.usenet.farm>):
>>
>>> An estimated 1.6 billion people rely on VPNs to carry out the most
>>> sensitive tasks online, from watching illegal videos to engaging in sexual
>>> or political activities. But few people know that a considerable chunk of
>>> that market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly
>>> operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that
>>> country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and
>>> Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
>>
>>> …
>>>
>>> …
>>>
>>> <https://www.mintpressnews.com/exposed-how-israeli-spies-control-your-vpn/2882
>>> 59/>
>>>
>>> <https://archive.md/9hDvd>
>>
>> Incredibly interesting article. Thank you for sharing this.
>>
>
> This chap has some recommendations and info about independent vpns
>
> https://christitus.com/vpn-tier-list-2024/
>

Come on... there is no "independent" VPN. If it is a company, it can, and
it will (if you are important enough) be corrupted. All it takes is for
the governments to start fiddling around and a small, lonely VPN provider
soon falls.

I'd rather crack someones wifi and use their connection if I had anything
sinister to do, than to rely on some random VPN company representative
I've never known and will never see in my life again.

D <nospam@example.net> writes:

> On Mon, 21 Oct 2024, Peter Dean wrote:
>
>> In comp.misc Francis Strelok <fr@nc@strelok.com> wrote:
>>> On Oct 20, 2024, D. Ray wrote
>>> (in article<mgZHaiQJMaqnGprQzlTkUEGTDTdHCwbt@news.usenet.farm>):
>>>
>>>> An estimated 1.6 billion people rely on VPNs to carry out the most
>>>> sensitive tasks online, from watching illegal videos to engaging in sexual
>>>> or political activities. But few people know that a considerable chunk of
>>>> that market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly
>>>> operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that
>>>> country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and
>>>> Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
>>>
>>>> …
>>>>
>>>> …
>>>>
>>>> <https://www.mintpressnews.com/exposed-how-israeli-spies-control-your-vpn/2882
>>>> 59/>
>>>>
>>>> <https://archive.md/9hDvd>
>>>
>>> Incredibly interesting article. Thank you for sharing this.
>>>
>>
>> This chap has some recommendations and info about independent vpns
>>
>> https://christitus.com/vpn-tier-list-2024/
>>
>
> Come on... there is no "independent" VPN. If it is a company, it can,
> and it will (if you are important enough) be corrupted. All it takes
> is for the governments to start fiddling around and a small, lonely
> VPN provider soon falls.

Quite few countries still have very free-speech-friendly laws, and
theoretically companies are able to defend their rights in court. It
happened before. The question is, which companies are really ready to do
it if needed?

> I'd rather crack someones wifi and use their connection if I had
> anything sinister to do, than to rely on some random VPN company
> representative I've never known and will never see in my life again.

What if it's not you, but they are the ones who want to do sinister things?