dessalines comments on [Discussion] Which privacy apps / services do you think are most likely US government honeypots?

[Discussion] Which privacy apps / services do you think are most likely US government honeypots? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 months ago by dessalines@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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IE like Crypto AG:

In 2020, it was revealed that the Swiss company, Crypto AG, which provided secure communications services to ~120 governments throughout the 20th century, was secretly ran by the CIA and West German Intelligence. The CIA and later NSA were able to read encrypted communications for many countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Italy, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Jordan and South Korea.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml [S] 18 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I always assume the more popular it is, the more likely it is of being compromised.

I have no idea if it's the case, but I switched away from mullvad after seeing billboards and ads of it everywhere, even on city infrastructure like trains and buses.

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[–] Tundra@sh.itjust.works 23 points 4 months ago*

If the company is owned by "Kape" its ikely a Israeli honeypot:

https://medium.com/illumination/vpns-the-privacy-trap-4aef67f39634

Kape’s portfolio includes ExpressVPN, acquired in 2021 for $936 million; CyberGhost, purchased in 2017; Private Internet Access, bought in 2019 for $127 million; and ZenMate.

Together, these services account for three of the six most popular VPN products globally, serving approximately 7.4 million paying subscribers.

Kape also owns VPNMentor and Wizcase, review platforms that rank VPN services — including Kape’s own products — for consumers seeking expert guidance.

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[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Mullvad is very likely one of the few good ones. I'd suggest reevaluating it.

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[–] Sinonatrix@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

My trust in them was definitely shaken after the recent news about fingerprinting exit IPs: https://tmctmt.com/posts/mullvad-exit-ips-as-a-fingerprinting-vector/

They were very responsive but this seemed like a huge fuck-up to me, to the extent that I question whether it was purposeful.

Not sure who else to trust because other providers like Proton seem even worse

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[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml [S] 1 point 4 months ago

I have no reason to go back to it, and I switched away from it for the reasons mentioned: its grown very large, and has mainstream ads everywhere now.

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[–] marcie@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 months ago*

if it makes you feel better i know an employee there and theyre a communist and say a lot of mullvad employees are lefties too, idk if they have a union or anything. nym vpn has chelsea manning backing it. not really a traditional vpn though its basically unfree tor that is not slow as balls, has the benefit of really good server coverage and few people blocking it. coolest thing is you can use a seedbox to route traffic to pay it down.

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