The following report provides a comprehensive audit of the political and ideological orientation of Nord Security, the parent organization of NordVPN, specifically focused on its governance, financial backing, operational alliances, and its comparative response to global geopolitical crises. As a central actor in the global cybersecurity market with a 2026 valuation of approximately $3 billion, the entity’s footprint is analyzed through the lens of political complicity, particularly regarding its relationship with the Israeli state apparatus, the occupation of Palestine, and the broader surveillance-industrial complex.1
The governance of Nord Security is characterized by a tightly controlled founder-led structure, augmented by the placement of representatives from elite Western private equity firms. The ideological orientation of the leadership is evidenced through both individual affiliations and the collective corporate culture established by the founders.
NordVPN was established in 2012 by Tomas Okmanas, Eimantas Sabaliauskas, and Jonas Karklys.1 The company’s origins are rooted in Vilnius, Lithuania, and it was initially supported by Tesonet, a business incubator also co-founded by Okmanas and Sabaliauskas.4 This founder-led group has transitioned from building web hosting and gaming solutions to managing a global cybersecurity empire that encompasses NordVPN, NordPass, NordLayer, and Surfshark.4
Tomas Okmanas, the co-CEO, holds a prominent position in the Lithuanian tech and security landscape. He is a member of the board of directors of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition), which serves as an advocacy body for the architects of the internet in public policy.4 Furthermore, his membership on the board of trustees at the Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science places him at the nexus of academic research and regional security policy.4 While his primary public advocacy focuses on “internet freedom” and the digital sovereignty of the Baltic states, his philanthropy has demonstrated a high degree of selective geopolitical mobilization. In 2023, Okmanas and Sabaliauskas raised over one million euros for Ukraine in a single hour, an effort that earned them the designation of National Patrons of Lithuania.4 This precedent for rapid, high-profile intervention in a geopolitical conflict establishes a benchmark for evaluating the company’s silence or action in other humanitarian contexts.
The ideological footprint of Nord Security expanded significantly following its Series C funding rounds in 2022 and 2023.1 These rounds introduced institutional investors whose leadership holds structured ties to Zionist advocacy and the Israeli security establishment.
| Name | Role | Affiliation | Key Data Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomas Okmanas | Co-Founder / Co-CEO | Nord Security | Member of i2Coalition; Board of Trustees, Vilnius University 4 |
| Eimantas Sabaliauskas | Co-Founder / Co-CEO | Nord Security | Co-founder of Tesonet; Philanthropic leader for Ukraine 4 |
| Chandler Reedy | Board Member | Warburg Pincus | Managing Director at Warburg Pincus; Joined Nord board in 2023 8 |
| Dina Lurje | General Counsel | Nord Security | Head of Public Policy; Expert in EU digital regulation 10 |
| Rytis Vitkauskas | Advisor | Nord Security | Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners 12 |
Table 1: Key Leadership and Governance Figures in the Nord Security Ecosystem.1
The 2023 funding round was led by Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm that has invested more than $22 billion in technology companies.7 The entry of Warburg Pincus onto the board via Chandler Reedy creates a direct structural link between Nord Security and a firm whose leadership is deeply embedded in pro-Israel philanthropic and advocacy circles.8 Jeffrey Perlman, the President of Warburg Pincus, has been a featured figure in the UJA-Federation of New York’s philanthropic leadership.14 Since October 7, 2023, the UJA-Federation has emerged as one of the largest financial supporters of Israel, allocating $146 million to meet emergency needs.14
Moreover, Warburg Pincus has been identified by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) for its controlling interest in Allied Universal, a security firm reported to be complicit in monitoring and surveillance activities related to the occupation of Palestinian territories.15 The presence of a Warburg Pincus representative on the board suggests an ideological alignment where the pursuit of “cybersecurity” is inextricably linked to the capital flows of firms that support the Israeli state’s military and security apparatus.
General Catalyst, an investor in Nord Security’s 2022 round, represents a significant segment of the Venture Capital (VC) community that has publicly aligned with Israeli government goals.1 Following the events of October 2023, General Catalyst was listed among the prominent firms supporting the VC Community Statement of Support for Israel.17 This statement called on investors to use their public platforms to oppose Hamas and urged financial leaders to “Invest in Israel and Israeli companies” to counter the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.17 David Fialkow, co-founder of General Catalyst, has a career that bridges global entrepreneurship with philanthropic engagement in Jewish community causes, further consolidating the firm’s pro-Israel positioning.18
Nord Security does not operate in a vacuum; its growth is contingent upon strategic alliances with corporations and trade bodies that facilitate the normalization of Israeli security standards in the global market.
In January 2026, Nord Security and CrowdStrike announced a strategic partnership intended to “redefine SMB cybersecurity”.19 CrowdStrike is a dominant force in the cybersecurity industry and maintains an extensive operational and research presence in Israel.21 The firm has been aggressive in its acquisition of Israeli-founded cybersecurity startups, including browser security provider Seraphic for $420 million, as well as firms like Flow and Bionic.20
The partnership integrates Nord Security’s secure access and credential management solutions with the CrowdStrike Falcon platform.19 This technical fusion creates a cohesive ecosystem where Nord Security’s products become a delivery vehicle for technologies born out of the Israeli tech sector. The leadership of CrowdStrike has publicly emphasized that the majority of proprietary cyber companies have direct or indirect ties to Tel Aviv, framing the city as the “startup capital for cyber outside of the States”.21 By aligning its product roadmap with CrowdStrike, Nord Security effectively legitimatizes and disseminates the “battle-tested” security paradigms central to the Israeli state’s narrative of innovation.
Nord Security’s geographic expansion, particularly into the UK and US markets, brings it into the sphere of bilateral trade chambers such as the British-Israel Chamber of Commerce (B-ICC). The B-ICC and its regional chapters, such as the B-ICC North West, actively facilitate UK-Israel partnerships, focusing on technology scouting and investment.22 While NordVPN often markets itself as a privacy utility, its parent company participates in the broader industry dialogue through “Cyber Week” events in Tel Aviv, often hosted by Tel Aviv University.24 These events serve as a forum for state officials, military veterans, and corporate leaders to coordinate on “cyber dome” defense strategies and cross-border innovation.26
The relationship between Nord Security’s home base of Lithuania and the Israeli state is formalized through the Israel-Lithuania Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ILCCI). The ILCCI operates the Israel-Lithuania Technology Hub (ILTH), which identifies business opportunities and R&D partners between the two countries, with a heavy focus on Information and Communication Technology (ICT).28 Lithuania’s status as a leader in the EU’s cyber rapid-response teams ensures that its top-tier tech companies, like Nord Security, are viewed as strategic assets in a Baltic-Israeli security axis.2
The most significant metric of political complicity and ideological bias is the company’s comparative response to major geopolitical conflicts. This audit analyzes the discrepancy between NordVPN’s activism regarding the Russia-Ukraine war and its silence regarding the Gaza conflict.
NordVPN’s response to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine was immediate, vocal, and operationally significant. The company’s corporate communications were characterized by:
This response established Nord Security as an ideological actor that prioritizes digital freedom over commercial neutrality in the context of state-led aggression against a Western-aligned nation.
A search of the NordVPN official blog and press archive between October 2023 and early 2026 reveals zero mentions of the Gaza conflict, the October 7 attacks, or the humanitarian crisis in Palestinian territories.36 This silence persists despite the documented destruction of internet and telecommunications infrastructure in Gaza by Israeli armed forces, which UNRWA and Chatham House have identified as a “rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis”.39
| Conflict Context | Narrative Response | Operational Action | Philanthropic Engagement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ukraine (2022-2026) | Extensive blogging, condemnation of “war crimes” 29 | Cessation of Russian business, shredding of servers 31 | 700+ products donated, free access for “vulnerable” 33 |
| Gaza (2023-2026) | Total absence of official statements or research 36 | No documented service restrictions or infrastructure warnings | No documented targeted donation campaigns for Palestinian NGOs |
Table 2: Comparative Analysis of Corporate Geopolitical Engagement.29
This dichotomy suggests a “Double Standard” in the application of the company’s mission to protect “democracy, civil rights… and freedom of speech”.12 While the “Emergency VPN” program is ostensibly global, there is no public record of targeted outreach to Palestinian journalists or medical staff analogous to the Ukrainian efforts, even as those professionals faced total communication blackouts.40
The internal culture and HR policies of a cybersecurity firm determine the degree to which its employees are permitted to engage in political solidarity.
While Nord Security has not publicly disclosed specific internal memos regarding Palestinian solidarity, it operates within a broader tech ecosystem that has seen an “increasingly systematic crackdown” on such expression.43 Reports from 2024 and 2025 detail the termination of employees at major tech firms like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft for protesting contracts with the Israeli military, such as Project Nimbus.44
In some documented instances within the industry, employees have been reprimanded for “liking” company-wide posts that inquired about software support for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), with management claiming such actions made the workplace “unsafe” or violated “neutrality” policies.46 Nord Security’s internal “Leadership Profile” emphasizes qualities such as “Caring” and “Bold,” but the absence of pro-Palestinian sentiment in its corporate social responsibility reports suggests that these qualities are channeled through a lens of political alignment with its Baltic and Western investor base.10
NordVPN’s product is inherently political as a tool for avoiding state surveillance. In 2025, hackers linked to Iranian sources reportedly gained access to corporate accounts through NordVPN to conduct phishing operations against Israeli hospitals and government agencies.48 This demonstrates that while the company markets its service for “privacy,” it functions as a logistical asset in the “Iron Swords” cyberwar.50 The company’s response to these incidents has been technical and neutral, contrasting with its active efforts to help the “IT Army” in Ukraine circumvent Russian propaganda.33
NordVPN’s brand positioning leverages militaristic terminology to project authority and reliability, a tactic that normalizes the prestige of the occupation-linked security sector.
The company’s marketing material consistently utilizes the term “military-grade encryption” to describe its AES-256 bit protocols.51 This framing reframes high-level encryption—a fundamental human right in some contexts—as a source of “battle-tested” prestige.54 This branding aligns NordVPN with the narrative of firms like Check Point Software Technologies, which was founded by veterans of Israel’s elite Unit 8200.24
By positioning itself in the same “best-of” rankings as Israeli cyber giants, NordVPN legitimizes the Israeli model of “mandatory military service combined with the expertise developed within elite units” as the global benchmark for digital safety.24 This normalization hides the reality that these same technologies are used to maintain the systems of surveillance and apartheid within the occupied territories.15
In 2022, Nord Security joined the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Centre for Cybersecurity.57 Tomas Okmanas framed this as a “natural next step” for a global brand that advocates for online privacy.57 The WEF’s cybersecurity initiatives focus on building “cyber resilience” through international dialogue between public and private stakeholders.57 In practice, these platforms provide institutional legitimation for corporations to coordinate with state officials from nations like Germany and Israel on “cyber dome” projects, further blurring the line between a commercial privacy tool and a state-aligned security asset.26
The fragmentation of the internet into government-controlled “splinternets” presents a structural challenge to NordVPN’s neutrality.58
NordVPN provides its own DNS infrastructure to prevent ISP tampering and monitoring.55 In Russia, the company refused to comply with DNS laws that would have allowed the Kremlin to monitor users.30 However, the company has not addressed the “splinternet” dynamics of the Middle East, where internet shutdowns and throttled connectivity have been used as tools of war in Gaza.39
The company’s partnership with Surfshark has led to the development of the “Internet Shutdown Tracker,” yet the focus remains largely on “third-country” suppliers with cybersecurity concerns, such as China and Russia.61 This focus on “third-country” threats aligns with the EU’s new Cybersecurity Act, which seeks ICT supply chain sovereignty by eliminating suppliers from hostile regimes—a policy that inherently favors Israeli and US-based suppliers over those from the Global South.56
Nord Security’s B2B products, such as NordLayer and NordPass, are designed for the “Industrial Control Systems” (ICS) and remote workforce markets.63 The company emphasizes that its tools help businesses “leave outdated legacy solutions behind” and transition to “zero trust” architecture.65
This technical logic positions Nord Security as an “enterprise shield” for organizations. When these tools are adopted by firms with high complicity in the occupation—such as those monitored by the AFSC—Nord Security becomes a silent partner in protecting the digital infrastructure of the settlement apparatus.15 The company’s “Governance” ESG priority emphasizes effective decision-making that “conforms to local laws and regulations,” a policy that allows it to maintain business-as-usual operations in markets like Israel without addressing the occupation context.12
The financial health of Nord Security is tied to capital providers who maintain active, structured support for the Zionist project.
The involvement of Warburg Pincus in the “Wall Street Dinner” for the UJA-Federation of New York provides a clear data point regarding the ideological environment of Nord Security’s lead investor.14 Jeffrey Perlman of Warburg Pincus was honored for his “philanthropic leadership” at an event where over 1,600 financial professionals gathered to “reaffirm their support for Israel” and “tackle global antisemitism”.14
The UJA-Federation’s direct investment in “healing” Israel physically and economically following the October 2023 conflict creates a channel where the profits generated by NordVPN subscriptions ultimately contribute to a fund that bolsters the Israeli state during military crises.14 This material transfer of wealth to the military-welfare apparatus of a state involved in the occupation is a critical indicator of severe complicity under the governance scales.
General Catalyst markets itself as a firm that invests in “powerful, positive change that endures”.67 However, its support for the “VC Community Statement of Support for Israel” defines “positive change” in a way that excludes Palestinian rights and actively lobbies against the BDS movement.17 The firm’s participation in Nord Security’s growth ensures that the company remains part of an investment network that views “Hamas War innovation” as a frontier for “business opportunities”.17
The ideological audit of Nord Security reveals a corporation whose governance and operations are deeply integrated into the Western-Israeli security establishment.
