How One Company Quietly Took Over Antivirus Reviews
A single London-listed company called Kape Technologies owns four of the largest consumer VPNs and at least three of the largest 'independent' review sites that rank those VPNs. The conflict is documented in public corporate filings. It is also the single most under-reported story in consumer cybersecurity affiliate publishing.
Direct answer
Kape Technologies — a London-listed company headquartered in the United Kingdom — simultaneously owns four consumer VPN brands (ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, ZenMate) and the publishing group Webselenese, which operates SafetyDetectives, vpnMentor, and Wizcase. The same corporate parent therefore sells the products and runs the websites that rank them. Kape's own VPNs and its in-house antivirus brand Intego routinely appear in top three positions on those 'review' sites, with disclosures buried in editor's notes that most readers never see. The arrangement is not illegal under FTC guidance — it is, however, the largest documented conflict of interest in the consumer cybersecurity affiliate market, and it shapes the rankings most consumers actually read.
The Big Picture
For readers who only read the next two paragraphs: Kape Technologies is a publicly documented holding company whose portfolio includes both consumer cybersecurity products and the publishing properties that 'review' those products. The same investor relations page that lists ExpressVPN as a Kape subsidiary also lists vpnMentor as a Kape subsidiary. The conflict is not hidden by the parent company — it is hidden by the review sites themselves, which disclose ownership in editor's notes that most readers never reach.
The result is that on Kape-owned 'review' sites, Kape-owned products consistently rank in the top three. On SafetyDetectives' Best Antivirus for Mac list, Intego — a Kape subsidiary — has frequently been ranked first. On vpnMentor's Best VPN list, ExpressVPN — also Kape — has frequently been ranked first. The disclosure attached to those rankings is typically a single sentence: 'Editor's note: Intego and this site are in the same ownership group.' That sentence is technically compliant with FTC affiliate disclosure rules. It is not honest reviewing.
One company. Four VPNs. Three 'review' sites.
The graph shows the documented corporate ownership chain. Every label below is verifiable from public corporate filings, the Kape Technologies investor-relations page, or the acquisition press releases.
- Kape Technologies (LON: KAPE, until 2023 when it was taken private by majority shareholder Unikmind Holdings) is the parent.
- It acquired Webselenese in 2021 for roughly $149 million, gaining vpnMentor and Wizcase in the same deal.
- It acquired SafetyDetectives in 2021 (sources: TechCrunch, CyberInsider).
- It owns ExpressVPN (acquired 2021), CyberGhost (acquired 2017), Private Internet Access (acquired 2019), and ZenMate (acquired 2018).
- It owns Intego, a Mac-focused antivirus, acquired in 2018.
Who Is Kape Technologies?
Kape Technologies plc was founded in 2011 as Crossrider, an Israeli-British software company that distributed browser toolbars and ad-injection software. In 2017, it pivoted to consumer cybersecurity, renamed to Kape Technologies, and began acquiring VPN brands. The company was publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (AIM: KAPE) until 2023, when its majority shareholder Unikmind Holdings — controlled by Israeli businessman Teddy Sagi — took it fully private at a valuation of approximately $1.7 billion.
The Crossrider history is the single most uncomfortable detail in the Kape story. Crossrider's browser-extension framework was repeatedly flagged by independent security researchers as adware; multiple antivirus vendors classified Crossrider components as potentially unwanted programs. Kape rebranded in 2018 in part to distance the new cybersecurity portfolio from that legacy. The pivot has been commercially successful; the legacy is a matter of public record.
Kape's current portfolio is consumer cybersecurity in two halves: products and publications. Both halves were assembled by acquisition, not built in-house, and both halves serve the same end-user funnel.
The Three 'Review' Sites Kape Owns
SafetyDetectives.com is the largest by traffic, with an estimated eight to ten million monthly visits across its multi-language properties. It produces long-form 'best antivirus' lists, individual product reviews, and security explainers. Its parent — disclosed in fine print on the About page — is Kape Technologies via the Webselenese subsidiary acquired in 2021.
vpnMentor.com is the largest VPN-focused review site by search traffic. It ranks VPNs in best-of lists and individual reviews. Its parent is Kape Technologies via the same Webselenese acquisition.
Wizcase.com is a smaller property, focused on streaming-and-VPN guidance and antivirus comparisons. It is owned by Kape Technologies via the same Webselenese acquisition.
All three properties run on the same WordPress publishing infrastructure, share editorial staff in some cases, and link reciprocally in 'related reading' sidebars. None of the three properties displays Kape ownership on the home page or above the fold of any review article. The disclosure is invariably in an About page, an Editor's Note dropdown, or a footer link.
The Antivirus and VPN Brands Kape Owns
Antivirus: Intego — acquired 2018. A Mac-focused antivirus and Mac performance utility brand. Intego routinely appears in the top three of SafetyDetectives' Best Antivirus for Mac list. It also appears prominently on Wizcase's Mac antivirus rankings.
VPNs: ExpressVPN — acquired 2021 for approximately $936 million. CyberGhost — acquired 2017. Private Internet Access — acquired 2019. ZenMate — acquired 2018. All four routinely appear in top-three positions on vpnMentor's, SafetyDetectives', and Wizcase's best-VPN lists.
The pattern is consistent: in any list compiled by a Kape-owned publication, Kape-owned products dominate the top three. On SafetyDetectives' Best Antivirus list, Intego has historically ranked fifth or higher and has been positioned as the Mac category winner. On the same list, TotalAV — a non-Kape brand with one of the highest affiliate commission rates in the industry — has frequently appeared in second place ahead of Bitdefender, McAfee, and Kaspersky, which is technically defensible only as a commercial decision.
How Intego Ranks #1 on Mac on Kape's Own Sites
On SafetyDetectives' Best Antivirus for Mac category page, Intego has been the named category winner across multiple monthly snapshots. The reasoning quoted in the page is consistent: 'Intego is built specifically for Mac.' That is technically true — Intego has a long history as a Mac-only product. It is also true that Intego has not consistently appeared in the top tier of independent Mac-focused testing at AV-TEST or AV-Comparatives, where Bitdefender, Norton, and Kaspersky usually take the top three.
The disclosure SafetyDetectives attaches to the Intego ranking is a single sentence, sometimes in an Editor's Note above the article, sometimes in a tooltip: 'Intego and this site are in the same ownership group.' That is technically compliant with the FTC's 16 CFR Part 255 guidance on affiliate disclosure. It does not change the fact that the publication ranking the product is owned by the same company that sells the product, and that no in-text reasoning attempts to defend the placement against the lab data.
VPN Brands Kape Owns — and Why It Matters Here
This is an antivirus publication. We cover Kape's VPN portfolio because three of Kape's four largest VPNs (ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access) are bundled or cross-promoted with antivirus products on the same Kape-owned review sites. Readers researching antivirus on SafetyDetectives or Wizcase routinely encounter recommendations for Kape's VPN brands as 'recommended add-ons' to the antivirus they are about to buy. Those recommendations are produced by the same publishing group that profits when readers click them.
The independent-audit landscape on those VPNs is mixed. ExpressVPN has commissioned and published multiple independent audits (PwC, KPMG, Cure53). CyberGhost and Private Internet Access have lighter audit histories. None of those audits cover the editorial conflict of interest, which is a publishing question, not a privacy question.
Other Conflicts: Gen Digital and the Brands It Owns
Kape is the largest documented conflict in the affiliate review space, but it is not the only one. Gen Digital — formed by the merger of Symantec and Avast in 2022 — is the parent of Norton, Avast, AVG, and Avira simultaneously. Multiple publications that recommend any one of those four brands are recommending the same parent's portfolio without always disclosing that the four brands share back-end infrastructure, threat intelligence, and (in some cases) personnel.
Ziff Davis, the parent of PCMag, owns IPVanish and StrongVPN. The conflict is smaller in scale than Kape's because Ziff Davis does not own multiple antivirus products and PCMag's editorial firewall is comparatively well-documented, but it is still a conflict that should be visible above the fold on any IPVanish or StrongVPN review.
Future PLC, the parent of Tom's Guide and TechRadar, does not own any antivirus or VPN brand. We mention the absence because in a market this riddled with conflicts, the absence is informative.
What This Means for Readers
It does not mean every Kape-published review is wrong. SafetyDetectives' methodology page is well-written. Its individual product reviews contain real information. Its problem is not that the editorial work is fabricated — it is that the editorial work was conducted within a corporate structure that has a documented commercial interest in the outcome.
Practical reading rule: when you see an antivirus or VPN review, check the About page for the publication's parent company. If the parent owns any antivirus or VPN product mentioned in the review, the review's relative rankings should be read with that lens applied. The reviewer's prose is not necessarily dishonest; the reviewer's incentives are not aligned with yours.
This is the entire reason SafeScan Now exists. We do not own any antivirus, VPN, or password-manager product. We do not operate any product brand on the side. We disclose every affiliate relationship by name and by commission terms. None of that makes us automatically more correct than SafetyDetectives — but it does mean our incentives, when we rank a product first, are aligned with yours.
How to Read 'Reviews' Now That You Know
Three checks before you trust a top-ten antivirus list:
1. Open the publication's About page in a new tab. Find the parent company. If you cannot find a parent company, that itself is a flag — major publications disclose ownership.
2. Search the parent company's name plus 'antivirus' or 'VPN.' If the parent owns any of the products on the list, treat the rankings as marketing rather than reviewing for those specific products.
3. Check whether the publication discloses commission rates per brand. The honest test is not whether commissions exist (they always do for affiliate publishing) — it is whether the publication is willing to tell you which brands pay them more. Most do not. We do, on /transparency/.
None of these checks take more than ninety seconds. All of them are absent from the average antivirus shopping flow.
How SafeScan Now Stays Independent
We are funded by reader-clicked affiliate commissions paid into a shared editorial pool. No editor is compensated per click or per conversion. Scoring decisions are locked before any affiliate negotiation. We do not accept sponsored content, sponsored rankings, or vendor-supplied review copy.
We do not own, operate, or hold equity in any antivirus, VPN, or password-manager brand. None of our four staff editors holds equity in or consults for any vendor we cover. Conflicts are disclosed inline on the page, not buried in About pages.
Our affiliate disclosure lists every brand we earn from and the rate we earn at. Our methodology page publishes the weights behind every score. Our /transparency/ page commits in writing to refusing paid placements forever. We expect to be held to all three.
Disclosure
SafeScan Now earns affiliate commissions when readers click certain links and purchase. We disclose those relationships individually on every review and listicle, and we disclose them collectively at /affiliate-disclosure/. We do not, and will not, accept paid placements, sponsored rankings, or any compensation that varies by brand or by conversion. The methodology that ranks brands is locked before any affiliate negotiation, and we have published critical reviews of brands that pay us. None of this makes our scoring automatically correct — it does mean our incentives, when we rank a brand first, do not depend on which brand paid most.
FAQ
The Kape Conspiracy — FAQs
If a question is missing, write to corrections@safescannow.com and we will add and answer it on the page.
Bottom line
One company owns four major consumer VPNs, one Mac antivirus, and three of the largest sites that 'review' all of them. The arrangement is technically disclosed and technically compliant. It is also the single largest reason your antivirus search results are not what they appear to be. Read accordingly.
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