This decision follows shortly after a KrebsOnSecurity report prompted Onerep's CEO to acknowledge his history of establishing multiple people-search networks.

Mozilla only started including Onerep in Firefox last month, announcing that the reputation service would be available on a subscription basis as part of Mozilla Monitor-Plus. Initiated in 2018 as Firefox Monitor, Mozilla Monitor also utilises data from the website Have I Been Pwned? to alert users when their email addresses or passwords have been compromised in data breaches.

On 14 March, KrebsOnSecurity revealed that Onerep's Belarusian CEO and founder, Dimitri Shelest, had created numerous people-search services since 2010, including an active data broker called Nuwber that sells background reports on individuals. Onerep and Shelest did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

However, on 21 March, Shelest issued a comprehensive statement admitting he still holds an ownership interest in Nuwber, a consumer data broker he established in 2015, coinciding with the launch of Onerep.

Shelest insisted that Nuwber has "no cross-over or information-sharing with Onerep," and clarified that any other former domains linked to his name are no longer under his operation.

Shelest wrote: " I understand my association with a people search business might seem peculiar externally. Indeed, had I not initially delved deeply into the workings of people search sites, Onerep would not possess the leading technology and team it has today. Nevertheless, I now recognise that we should have been more transparent about this in the past, and I am committed to improving it in the future."

In a statement issued today, a Mozilla spokesperson declared the organisation is distancing itself from Onerep as a service provider for its Monitor Plus product. "

Mozilla stated, “Although customer data was never compromised, the external financial interests and activities of Onerep's CEO are inconsistent with our principles."

"We are formulating a transition strategy to ensure a smooth customer experience, always prioritising their interests."

KrebsOnSecurity also reported that around 2010, Shelest's email address was linked to an affiliate of Spamit, a Russian-language group known for paying individuals to market websites aggressively selling male enhancement drugs and generic pharmaceuticals.

Shelest refuted any connection with Spamit. "From 2010 to 2014, we created some web pages and optimised them—a common SEO tactic—and then displayed AdSense banners," Shelest explained, likely referring to the numerous people-search domains KrebsOnSecurity identified as associated with his email addresses ( and ).

"As we evolved and gained insight, we noticed many queries were person-related."

Shelest conceded that Onerep advertises on "a select few data broker sites under certain conditions." "Our advertisement appears once someone has manually completed an opt-out form themselves," Shelest stated.

"The intention is to inform them that if they were visible on that site, there might be others, and to raise awareness of a more automated opt-out alternative, such as Onerep."