Nonprofit organizations supported Firefox browser The web browser said today it would end its onerepe, an identity protection service recently bundled with Firefox that can remove users from hundreds of people search sites. Just days ago, a KrebsOnSecurity report forced Onerep’s CEO to admit that he had created dozens of people-hunting networks over the years.
Mozilla Monitor. Picture Mozilla Monitor Plus video on YouTube.
Mozilla Bundling Onerep in Firefox only started last month, when it announced that the reputation service would be available on a subscription basis as part of Mozilla Monitor Plus. Launched in 2018 as Firefox Monitor, Mozilla Monitor also checks the profile of the website Have I Been Pwned?. Let users know when their email address or password has been compromised in a data breach.
On March 14, KrebsOnSecurity published a report showing that the Belarusian CEO and founder of Onerep Dimitri Sherest Dozens of staffing services have been launched since 2010, including a still-active profile broker called nub Selling people’s background reports. Onerep and Shelest did not respond to requests for comment for this report.
But on March 21, Shelest released a lengthy statement in which he acknowledged retaining an ownership stake in Nuwber, the consumer profile broker he founded in 2015 — around the same time he launched Onerep.
Shelest insists Nuwber has “zero intersection or information sharing with Onerep,” and says any other old domains that may be found and associated with his name are no longer operated by him.
“I get it,” Celeste wrote. “From the outside, my relationship with the talent search business may seem strange. In fact, if I hadn’t taken this initial path and dug into the way people search sites work, Onerep wouldn’t have owned the space The best technology and team. However, I am now grateful that we did not make this more clear in the past and my goal is to do better in the future.” The full statement is available here (PDF).
Dimitri Shelest, CEO and founder of Onerep.
In a statement released today, a Mozilla spokesperson said the company will no longer use Onerep as a service provider for its Monitor Plus product.
“While customer data has never been at risk, Onerep’s CEO’s outside financial interests and activities are inconsistent with our values,” Mozilla wrote. “We are now working hard to solidify our transition plan to provide customers with a seamless experience and will continue to put their interests first.”
KrebsOnSecurity also reports that Shelest’s email address was used around 2010 by an affiliate of Spamit, a Russian-language group that paid people to actively promote websites that peddled male enhancement drugs and generics. As reported in the March 14 report, research by multiple graduate students at my alma mater, George Mason University, confirms this connection.
Sheleste denied any relationship with Spamit. “Between 2010 and 2014, we built a number of web pages, optimized them (a widely used SEO practice), and then ran AdSense banners on them,” Shelest said, presumably referring to the dozens of websites discovered by KrebsOnSecurity The people search domain is related to his website. Email addresses (dmitrcox@gmail.com and dmitrcox2@gmail.com). “As we progressed and learned more, we found that a lot of inquiries were directed at people.”
Shelest also acknowledged that Onerep paid to place ads “on a limited number of data broker websites under certain circumstances.”
“Once someone manually fills out the opt-out form, our ads will run,” Sheleste wrote. “Our goal is to let them know that there may be others if they are exposed on the site and make them aware that there is a more automated opt-out option, such as Onerep.”
Contact the founder of HaveIBeenPwned via Twitter/X Troy Hunter He said he was aware that Mozilla was considering a partnership with Onerep, but he was unaware of the Onerep CEO’s many conflicts of interest.
“I know Mozilla is working on this feature and we discussed it casually when we talked about Firefox Monitor,” Hunt told KrebsOnSecurity. “The point I make to them is the same one I make to the various companies who want to place profile removal ads on HIBP: Removing your profile from a legitimately operated service has minimal impact, and you can’t remove it from being outright illegal. removed from service. Those who are causing real harm.”
Playing both sides—creating and disseminating the same digital disease your drug is designed to treat—can be deeply unethical and wrong. But it’s not illegal in the United States. Neither is collecting and selling Americans’ data. Privacy experts say the problem lies with the presence of data brokers, people search services like Nuwber and Onerep, and online reputation management companies, as nearly all U.S. states exclude so-called “public” or “government” records from consumer privacy laws .
These include voting registrations, property filings, marriage certificates, motor vehicle records, criminal records, court documents, death records, professional licenses and bankruptcy filings. Data brokers can also enrich consumer records by adding social media data and known associates to provide additional information.
Onerep’s March 14 report is the second in a series of three investigative reports released this month that examines the data brokers and people search industry and highlights the need for more congressional oversight of consumer data protection and privacy (If not regulatory).
On March 8, KrebsOnSecurity published a closer look at consumer data broker Radaris, which revealed that Radaris’ co-founders operate multiple Russian-language dating services and affiliate programs. Many of their operations also appear to be tied to a California marketing firm that works with a Russian state-run media group that is currently subject to U.S. government sanctions.
On March 20, KrebsOnSecurity published The Not-So-Real People Search Network from China , which revealed an elaborate network of fake people search companies and executives designed to conceal the location of Chinese People Search affiliates. Affiliates make money by promoting the United States. Data brokers selling Americans’ personal information.
