PIA Acquisition by Kape Technologies

[GoldenLag]

Via: https://www.techradar.com/news/cyberghost-owner-buys-pia-for-dollar955m-to-create-vpn-giant

 

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Private Internet Access, a popular VPN provider, is set to have a new owner, after Kape Technologies announced its intention to acquire the parent company (and creator) of PIA, LTMI Holdings (London Trust Media).

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Assuming the acquisition goes ahead as planned – subject to the usual regulatory approval – it’s expected to be finalized in early 2020, and Kape says it will then adopt the Private Internet Access name

Seems like its not only an acquisition of a major VPN provider, but also the brand name it offer for further expansion into the VPN market

 

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The deal is for $95.5 million according to a report by Vox Markets, consisting of $52.9 million cash, and the issue of over 42.7 million new Kape shares which will also pay off London Trust Media’s existing $32.1 million debt (making the total enterprise value of LTMI $127.6 million in the acquisition).

So its a fairly sizable ammount of money being exchanged. 

 

 

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Kape describes itself as a cybersecurity company focusing on giving consumers better digital protection, and the operation has already bought two other high-profile VPN providers previously – namely ZenMate (acquired last year) and CyberGhost (picked up the year before).

Kape is on the road to become a fairly large VPN player if this trend continues. 

 

Hopefully this was communicated well the the companies PIA sponsored, or else we might see a end of PIA being a sponsor at LTT. the same way the infamous Tunnelbear got aquired by McAfee ended relations between them and Linus Mediagroup. 

 

with the building of very major VPN providers i certainly hope they stay true to the privacy statements and dont start doing datacollection to fund their endeavours

 

 

Credit to @Arika S for the extra details regarding past aquisitions and conflict of interests

[Arika]

Going to post some snippets from the below source that i posted in a previous thread that makes me very weary about how this is going to turn out

 

https://restoreprivacy.com/cyberghost/

 

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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”.

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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:

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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.

 

So yeah, Shady as hell parent company, based purely on them now owning PIA, i would not trust PIA to keep your data safe

[Meganter]

7 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

with the building of very major VPN providers i certainly hope they stay true to the privacy statements and dont start doing datacollection to fund their endeavours

This is why I don't have a VPN, I already have my data collected by Amazon, Google and Microsoft though.

[TechyBen]

The Linus Effect.

[elfensky]

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

So yeah, Shady as hell parent company, based purely on them now owning PIA, i would not trust PIA to keep your data safe

Goddammit. And I actually got a 2 year PIA sub earlier this year. Talk about putting money down the drain. Guess that's a lesson for me, a lot can happen in 2 years, so pay monthly.

I wonder if I can get refunded for my remaining time.

[Spotty]

I just cancelled my PIA subscription. Had 6 months left but I rarely ever used it and was already considering whether or not I would resubscribe when my current subscription ran out. This recent news really just gave me the motivation needed to be bothered to log in to the account and cancel the subscription.

It's a shame as when I did use PIA I had no complaints about it. Always worked quite well for me, I didn't have any connection issues and speed was good.

 

2 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

you either die a good sponsor, or live long enough to see yourself bought out by a company out of the loop

 

(i tried ,_,)

Some VPNs just want to watch the sponsorship deal burn?

[AlexGoesHigh]

Inb4 PIA sub number plummet because of this.

 

Though seriously what was PIA management thinking into selling out to out of all companies that could have bought them, it had to be one that made malware, the whole opposite of their business

 

Those green must have shinned bright gold for that.

[rcmaehl]

3 hours ago, Arika S said:

So yeah, Shady as hell parent company, based purely on them now owning PIA, i would not trust PIA to keep your data safe

 RIP PIA, I'll pour one out for ya

[TechyBen]

1 hour ago, AlexGoesHigh said:

Inb4 PIA sub number plummet because of this.

 

Though seriously what was PIA management thinking into selling out to out of all companies that could have bought them, it had to be one that made malware, the whole opposite of their business

 

Those green must have shinned bright gold for that.

"what were they thinking..."

Thinking.

 

Thinking...

 

...

 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 hour ago, AlexGoesHigh said:

Inb4 PIA sub number plummet because of this.

 

Though seriously what was PIA management thinking into selling out to out of all companies that could have bought them, it had to be one that made malware, the whole opposite of their business

 

Those green must have shinned bright gold for that.

 

If I was the creator of a service that succeeds due to its quality, I'd have no problem selling to anyone for enough cash. They keep the service as it is? Everyone wins. They change it for the worse? Well, then the same people who chose my service due to its quality should steer away from the bad one - I still get the money, and the company responsible for ruining it get the losses. Users just shift to the next best thing.

 

 

It is definitely interesting to know that they'll be releasing a "privacy browser" and a search engine under the direction of a browser-hijacker producer...

 

[williamcll]

Are we going back to tunnelbear now?

[3rrant]

I used ExpressVPN for a few years now, even if it was higher in cost than most other vpn, initially just because it was the best to use US Netflix without getting blocked by the site.. seems to have been a good idea now.

[rcmaehl]

OC, do not steal

Spoiler

  

 

[CiBi]

2 hours ago, Tony Tony Chopper said:

So whats the most trustworthy alternative at the moment without logging etc ?

https://protonvpn.com/

 

same guys who did protonmail, based in switserland, seems like an allround safe bet

[Arika]

13 minutes ago, CiBi said:

https://protonvpn.com/

 

same guys who did protonmail, based in switserland, seems like an allround safe bet

Free VPNs are not a good idea

[S w a t s o n]

Well I guess I won't be renewing once my pre-paid 2 years expires in the spring. Kind of suprised cyberghost sold out to these guys too and even acknowledged it....they must be offering insane amounts.

[rcmaehl]

11 minutes ago, Arika S said:

Free VPNs are not a good idea

Free VPNS are GENERALLY not a good idea

[CiBi]

46 minutes ago, Arika S said:

Free VPNs are not a good idea

 

1 minute ago, rcmaehl said:

Free VPNS are GENERALLY not a good idea

 

I for one would be paying since circumventing georestrictions is the biggest advantage to VPN's in my eyes and the free plan only gives 3 countries and a limited speed.

I see how their product could make money even without selling userdata.

[Kenji the Uke]

I just.. bought a year of PIA.. like two days ago

[Orcblood]

ExpressVPN seems like the only good VPN anymore. 

[Cyberspirit]

Welp, I still have a year to go with my PIA license, cool.

 

People who moved from NordVPN to PIA probably won't be happy.

Spoiler

 

[Flying Sausages]

Anyone here tried perfect privacy vpn before? 

[Fnige]

7 hours ago, VegetableStu said:

Tunnelbear -> Nord -> PIA

 

MAXIMUM MISERY

I wonder what would be next.

 

VPNs seem to have more drama than charles and thats kinda scary

[DrMacintosh]

I’ve never trusted VPNs...and I never will. I’ll never forgive them....for the death of my PIA. 
 

Spoiler

(Star Trek VI reference)

 

[DeScruff]

... Friiiiiiiig
I guess there is a lesson to be learned... don't try to save money by buying the larger subscriptions... because too much can happen in 2 years.