Rippling spy says men have been following him, and his wife is afraid

The life of a spy may seem thrilling, but recent revelations from Keith O’Brien, a confessed spy for the tech company Rippling, offer a stark warning about the darker side of espionage. An Irish judge has granted O’Brien a restraining order against several unidentified individuals who he alleges have been stalking him. O’Brien testified that he has been repeatedly followed by multiple men, including one incident involving two individuals in a gray Skoda Superb. More frequently, he reported being pursued by a heavy-set man with short hair driving a black SUV, often accompanied by a large dog. This unsettling narrative has captivated the tech community, particularly after O’Brien’s dramatic confession in April, where he claimed to be receiving €5,000 monthly to acquire Rippling’s internal data on everything from products to clientele. Rippling discovered O’Brien’s activities through a honeypot Slack channel. On the day of his apprehension, O’Brien reportedly attempted to destroy his phone, flushing it down a corporate toilet and later smashing it, discarding the remnants at his mother-in-law's residence. O’Brien has since become a key figure in Rippling’s lawsuit against Deel, which is also counter-suing, alleging that it suffered espionage from a Rippling employee posing as a customer. The rivalry between these two HR technology firms has been fierce, especially after Deel, a former client of Rippling, began to roll out competing services. In his testimony, O’Brien described his efforts to evade the SUV that was tailing him, employing sudden turns and roundabout routes, only to find it reappearing in his rearview mirror. Feeling increasingly threatened, he enlisted a security consulting firm, fearing he might be targeted with tracking devices. The situation has taken a toll on O’Brien and his family, as he expressed in his affidavit, revealing that the stress of these encounters has led to significant emotional and psychological distress. "We have been experiencing anxiety at home and in public. It has affected our sleep and our concentration," he stated, voicing concerns for the safety of his four children. While O’Brien and his legal team suspect the harassment stems from his role as a pivotal witness, they acknowledged in court that no evidence currently links the stalkers to Deel. Deel has similarly denied any knowledge of the man in the black SUV. The presiding judge, during the issuance of the injunction, reportedly remarked on the absurdity of the situation, likening it to a scene from a 1970s cop show. As these legal battles unfold, O’Brien finds himself caught in a high-stakes conflict between these two competing HR startups, a position he describes as increasingly agonizing.