Reuters further reports,Īt the behest of the UAE’s monarchy, the Project Raven team hacked into the accounts of human rights activists, journalists and rival governments, Reuters reported. This was all revealed in court documents that were recently made public. ![]() security clearance again.īefore joining ExpressVPN in December 2019, Gericke was part of a team that helped the UAE government hack and spy on its enemies. These three individuals, all of whom are former military or intelligence officials, were ordered to pay a combined total of $1.69 million, cooperate with the U.S. Today, we’re going to be covering another hot issue that just surfaced involving a high-level ExpressVPN executive, criminal charges, and international espionage.Īccording to Reuters, Daniel Gericke, the current Chief Information Officer at ExpressVPN, was one of three people who entered into a plea deal with the Department of Justice. Update: We have added more information and made corrections concerning the Deferred Prosecution Agreement, while also explaining the business case for hiring a former hacker (a practice we see with many other cybersecurity firms).Įarlier this week, we wrote an article about how ExpressVPN agreed to be purchased by Kape Technologies, a company with a growing presence in the VPN space. Gericke, who was formerly employed by the US military, is accused of violating US hacking laws and facilitating the UAE in a covert cyber espionage operation called Project Raven, which transpired before Gericke was employed by ExpressVPN. Our product and infrastructure have already benefited from that understanding in better securing user data.”ĮxpressVPN argues that Daniel Gericke has maintained a professional attitude throughout his employment with the online privacy company.ĭespite their loyalty to Gericke, the company states that they also use “robust systems and security controls” to ensure their employees don’t engage in illegal behavior.The Chief Information Officer for ExpressVPN, Daniel Gericke, has entered into a plea deal with the US government for his role in facilitating the United Arab Emirates in hacking and surveilling state dissidents. “Daniel has a deep understanding of the tools and techniques used by the adversaries we aim to protect users against, and as such is a uniquely qualified expert to advise on defense against such threats. These charges and the associated penalties make clear that the FBI will continue investigating such violations.”ĭaniel Gericke’s present employer, ExpressVPN, claims it knew about his past employment, stating that he “disclosed them proactively and transparently with us from the start.” “These individuals chose to ignore warnings and to leverage their years of experience to support and enhance a foreign government’s offensive cyber operations. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Field Office stated that: Moreover, Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. and foreign security clearances.Īll three will also have future employment restrictions, as they are strictly prohibited by the DPA to seek “employment that involves CNE activity or exporting defense articles or providing defense services under the ITAR.” They must also pay a penalty of $1.685 million and forfeit their U.S. Prosecutors are willing to drop the charges against Daniel Gericke and the other two if they fully cooperate with U.S. “Providing unlicensed export-controlled defense services in support of computer network exploitation, and a commercial company creating, supporting and operating systems specifically designed to allow others to access data without authorization from computers worldwide, including in the United States.”Ĭharges Dropped on Account of Full Cooperation One such target was the Emir of Qatar, a Nobel Peace laureate and a human-rights activist in Yemen.Īcting Assistant Attorney General Mark J. These systems could infiltrate devices without user interaction.Īs this initiative was dubbed, Project Raven targeted US victims and other activists vocal against the UAE. While working there, Gericke, Adams, and Baier supervised the development of “zero-click” intelligence hacking systems. ![]() However, they continued their work without a license. Gericke’s trio had been previously informed that, under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), they needed a license from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls while providing services to U.A.E. The company conducted covert computer hacking operations on behalf of the UAE between 20. ![]() From US Intelligence to Mercenary Hackersĭaniel Gericke, Marc Baier, and Ryan Adams had previously left US employment before coming to work for a UAE-based company (U.A.E.
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