According to interviews and electronic records, when a top executive at virtual private network business ExpressVPN acknowledged working on behalf of foreign intelligence service to hack American machines last week, it surprised staff at his new company.
Some employees were even more shocked by what ExpressVPN stated following the US Justice Department’s deferred prosecution agreement. Dan Gericke’s experience as a mercenary hacker for the United Arab Emirates was known to the corporation.
The VPN service stated that the former CIA operator preserving the privacy of its users was not a concern for them. Even as the FBI probe into Gericke’s activities neared its completion, the corporation had continually handed him increased responsibilities at ExpressVPN.
According to an internal email at the time, Gericke was named chief technology officer in August and is still in the position. Gericke emailed his ExpressVPN colleagues shortly after court records revealed that he and two other former US intelligence operatives had agreed to pay a fine and give up any future sensitive employment.
When senior company executives accepted questions about Gericke’s deal and then discussed the company’s sale to British-Israeli digital security software provider Kape Technologies PLC during a regular online question-and-answer session with employees last Friday, the workforce expressed its displeasure.
During the session, more than 40 employees voted in favor of that question, propelling it to the front of the list. Vice reported on other staff complaints earlier on Thursday. Someone with access to the questions and vote totals made them available to Reuters.
When asked about the situation, ExpressVPN responded that the conversation was part of a regular monthly meeting between management and employees. At ExpressVPN’s session with leaders Friday, the second-most supported question also concerned him.
“As an individual, I have a problem accepting that Dan was hired despite disclosing past actions. These actions are not small things we can easily forget or accept. Don’t they go against all the things XV stands for?” that person asked.
