It is estimated that hundreds of millions of people rely on performing their most sensitive tasks online. But few are aware that a significant portion of this market, including three of the six most popular services, is quietly operated by an Israeli company closely affiliated with Israeli national security agencies, including the elite units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Duvdevan unit.

The investigation into Israel's growing control over the tech industry previously outlined how these sectors are involved in some of Israel's most egregious hacking, surveillance, and assassination schemes, acting as spies and commandos.

For instance, it is the source of some of the world's most notorious spyware, including and, both of which have been used to monitor tens of thousands of the world's top politicians and journalists, including Saudi Arabia, who used it to aid in the pursuit and killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Against this backdrop, there are legitimate concerns that control over a vast empire could enhance Israel's influence over the online information and security landscape, creating backdoors for Israeli intelligence agencies to conduct large-scale black material operations on global users.

This survey is part of a series that focuses on and elaborates on the growing ability of Israel's burgeoning tech industry to acquire and control people's data.

a different kind of company

CapTech Corporation () is a major player in the field of online privacy and one of the three giants that dominate the market.

It boasts many world-class, including, and a series of tech websites that promote its products.

Cap brand sponsors numerous public figures, such as Tucker Carlson, Angry Video Game Nerd, Drew Gooden, Lex Fridman, Cody Ko, Uncle Roger, and Ben Shapiro.

Shapiro said in a video endorsing the company:

The internet is at the forefront of a battle for control. When powerful interest groups want to push their agendas, they use big government and big tech to suppress any voices that don't fit the narrative. Americans are being forced to give up what made America great: our freedom of speech. Well, I don't like my voice being censored, and I don't like being watched by big tech and big government, which is why I use it and you should too.

VPN, which stands for Virtual Private Network, is a service that claims to protect your online anonymity. Instead of providing your information to your Internet Service Provider, you provide it to a company that encrypts it, allowing users to bypass censorship and engage in activities online that they do not want associated with themselves, such as purchasing prohibited products, participating in certain activities, and communicating with others. As a result, people trust it to hide their most sensitive activities.

Although CapTech's headquarters is located in London and it has thousands of employees worldwide, it still maintains a distinct Israeli style. This can be traced back to its owner, Teddy Sagi. Born in Tel Aviv, Sagi is a tycoon who has served time for financial crimes and is estimated to be worth billions of dollars, ranking among the top ten richest individuals in Israel.

Sagi has had a long and close collaboration with the Israel Defense Forces, and is rumored to have close ties with Israeli intelligence. In the year, he donated $10 million to provide academic scholarships for hundreds of retired Israeli soldiers.

Sagi said at the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces gala: "We and I personally are responsible for expressing the gratitude and appreciation of all Israeli citizens to you." He also specifically seeks jobs for retired IDF soldiers within his own business.

Additionally, during the most intense period of the Gaza operation, the billionaire publicly donated over a million dollars to Israeli Defense Forces charitable organizations, aiding in the transportation of soldiers to and from the front lines.

In the year, he was assassinated in Cyprus, and Israel accused Iran of orchestrating the assassination, which further fueled speculation about his close ties with the National Security Agency. (Iran denied these allegations.)

The connections between Kapu Technology and Israeli security agencies go beyond this. In fact, the company has close ties with Israeli intelligence officials. The technical career of the company's co-founder and long-time CEO, Kobe Menachemi, began as a developer in the military, while the company's current accounting director, Liron Peer, also served in this controversial military unit for three years.

Meanwhile, Ido Erlichman, who succeeded Menachem as CEO of Kapp, is a veteran of the Unit (Sayeret), an elite commando unit responsible for intelligence operations and assassinations against local Arabs.

Poachers Turned Cyber Gamekeepers?

Before the year, Capu Technology Company was known as, and was often considered a malware company. It is a platform that allows its clients to monetize their software by forcefully displaying advertisements in front of users.

The user's and the computer's browsers are hijacked, with the homepage changed to a search engine not chosen by them, thereby generating advertising revenue for the company. Although it does not produce malicious software or viruses, its platform is notorious for allowing third parties to distribute such malware globally.

Therefore, when the company rebranded as KapTech, shifting its focus to online privacy and protecting the public from criminal elements, the tech community was largely unimpressed. Erlichman told a local Israeli media outlet that the rebranding and renaming were necessary due to "close ties to the company's past activities." In other words, the group's reputation was so tarnished that a complete overhaul was required.

In the year, / Capcom acquired its first title for $10 million. Subsequently, the company embarked on an aggressive acquisition spree, purchasing several renowned companies, including the acquisition of in 2000 for $10 million, in 2001 for $1.4 billion, and in 2002 for $1.5 billion—the most expensive acquisition in global history to date.

It also acquired numerous review websites, such as and—these platforms claim to provide expert information on which options are best for their readers. Insisting that this significant conflict of interest will not affect their ratings.

They wrote: "Everything we do revolves around providing value through honesty, transparency, and dedication." Surprisingly, the top three overall winners they selected were, and — all products from CapTech.

In fact, , , and swept the awards in each category: best for , best for , best for , best for , best for , and best for American users. The best of the year recommendations also went to , , and . In fact, when visiting the website ranking page, users will see a large pop-up ad prompting them to subscribe for special offers.

Ex-executive spy

When using the service, users place a great deal of trust in the company itself. They must believe that it can effectively encrypt users' traffic, protect their data and server network infrastructure, and will not do anything else with the vast amount of sensitive information provided to them. As mentioned earlier, individuals and organizations engage in various highly dangerous activities online.

Unfortunately, Daniel Greaves, who served as Chief Technology Officer () from year to year, was deeply involved in such questionable activities. A series of Reuters investigations revealed that Greaves was a key member of a spy team that hacked the devices of human rights activists, journalists, and government officials, stealing their data and passing it on to the government of the United Arab Emirates. The investigation showed that the UAE used this data to track dissidents and torture them.

After Reuters exposed the matter, Glick (a former manager of the weapons company) was hired and continued to be supported, even as the U.S. Department of Justice fined him $ for his role in a covert operation. The company stated in a declaration: "We still have great trust." Glick worked for nearly four years and left the company last summer.

Hiring Gric and selling it to a UK-Israeli company with a dubious history led to a mass exodus of employees and raised many questions: What exactly did this cyber mercenary, under investigation by the US government for stealing sensitive data of tens of millions and passing it on to foreign governments, do during his tenure as an executive, especially with the company's user data? Whistleblower Edward Snowden summed it up: "If you are a customer, you shouldn't be one."

Unique unit

With a background as a former spy, Gerrick is likely to be very compatible with many other senior leaders at Karp Technologies. Ehrlichman served as CEO of Karp from year to year, and he is a veteran of the elite Israeli commando unit. Middle Eastern news media described it as Israel's "death squad," whose members undergo special training to disguise themselves as Palestinians in order to infiltrate enemy groups and carry out extrajudicial executions. The selection process and training are extremely rigorous, and commandos typically go undercover for months or even years before being assigned missions.

The series " " explores and promotes the life and work of the Dovdovint agents.

Meanwhile, the unit is equally renowned. Known as Israel's Harvard, parents spare no expense in enrolling their children in cram schools, knowing that being selected for this unit opens the door to Israel's booming high-tech industry.

But the military is also the core of the country's national machinery. It has established a vast digital network to continuously monitor, surveil, and harass the Palestinian people, whose calls, emails, and every move are under the surveillance of the organization.

The military used this data to compile extensive information files on Palestinians under their control, including their medical histories, sexual lives, and search histories, for future use in blackmail. If an individual needed to cross a checkpoint for critical medical treatment, permission might be suspended until they complied with Israeli demands, providing dirt on their compatriots. Information such as whether someone had betrayed a spouse or was homosexual was also used as bait for blackmail. A former soldier said that as part of his training, he was required to memorize different Arabic words for "homosexual" so he could recognize them in conversations.

Year, reserve soldiers of a military unit publicly stated that the unit does not distinguish between ordinary Palestinians and violent elements, and regards Palestinians as national enemies. They also claimed that their intelligence was passed on to local influential politicians, who used it for purposes they deemed appropriate.

Recently, a new project in the military utilizes artificial intelligence to select targets for Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. A "conservative estimate" published in the medical journal The Lancet indicates that since the beginning of the month, approximately 10,000 people have died as a result of Israeli bombings. Additionally, around 500,000 people have been displaced.

The agents of the unit have developed many of the world's most downloaded applications, including map services and communication platforms. However, perhaps the most significant impact has been made by spyware.

Used to monitor globally, multiple prominent figures, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, and Iraqi President Barham Salih, among other political figures. Journalists, human rights defenders, and royal family members have also become surveillance targets.

Veterans sold to some of the world's most authoritarian governments. For instance, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the software to dig up scandals on his political opponents, while other members of his government tapped the phone of a woman who accused India's Chief Justice of raping her.

Known purchasers of the software include the CIA, as well as the governments of the UAE, Panama, and Saudi Arabia, who used the software to spy on Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi until he was assassinated by Saudi agents in Turkey. All sales must be approved by the Israeli government, which ostensibly has access to the data being accumulated by its foreign clients.

The veteran of the unit even developed spyware. In the year, it acquired and subsequently promoted its product to billions of users. However, users who downloaded the product were unaware that it was not a privacy application but was used to monitor them, aiding in understanding the market and defeating competitors. After the scandal was exposed, it was removed from the app store, and since then, the product has been discontinued.

Spies control your social media

However, the collaboration goes far beyond that. The author's investigation in the year found that a large number of veterans later held senior positions in the parent company.

Among the most prominent is Emi Palmer, a veteran who has served for a long time in the Israel Defense Forces and once served as the director of the Israeli Ministry of Justice. Palmer is one of the members of the oversight committee, which ultimately controls the political direction of, and determines what content is appropriate, what is unacceptable, and should be banned.

Thus, a veteran of the military is influencing what billions of users see and do not see online, which may include the Israeli attacks on Gaza, while consistently favoring Israel and suppressing the voices of Palestinians on this issue.

The same survey also found that at least one former agent works at Google. This includes the Google Director of Strategy and Operations, Insights, Data, and Management, as well as the Global Self-Service Director.

At the same time, Microsoft has recruited at least a number of veterans, many of whom transitioned directly from the military into the company, indicating that Microsoft is actively recruiting talent from this branch.

These figures are clearly severely underestimated, as revealing a person's current or past relationship with the military is a crime under Israeli law. Therefore, those who have been discovered are those who are brazen and openly defy Israeli law.

Is your identity secure?

Internet privacy is a serious matter. Over a billion people trust it to hide their online identities. However, the background of Kapu Technology Company—from initially being an adware company that sent users advertisements, to its core figures having close ties with Israeli intelligence agencies—has sparked serious concerns about its customers' privacy.

In the best-case scenario, handing over data to companies with such a moral background would generate a series of troubling conflicts of interest. However, given the close ties many of the key figures highlighted here have with organizations like Duvdevan and Egoz, both of which have engaged in extensive espionage activities.

And given the reported actions of the former entity monitoring users and transmitting this information to foreign governments, it cannot be ruled out that this is a massive entrapment operation aimed at collecting large amounts of personal data, similar to what has been done before.

Israel's Defense Science and Technology Military Capabilities

Israeli Military Intelligence Unit

The bloody origins of Israel's cybersecurity industry

Israel: The Convergence of Technology, Cyber Warfare, and the Modern World

The global spyware market is concentrated in Israel, India, and Italy.

Israeli officials pushing spyware for cash deals sparks criminal investigation in Colombia.