Rippling sues rival Deel for alleged corporate espionage
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — Human resources technology company Rippling has initiated legal action against its competitor Deel for alleged corporate espionage activities to obtain proprietary business data. The legal complaint filed at the Northern District of California reveals Deel obtained confidential business information through one of its employees who operated as a spy inside Rippling’s system.
Allegedly, an internal spy executed more than 6000 illicit Slack searches on Rippling’s systems, allowing Deel to take control of clients and steal away clients and their staff.
Alex Spiro, the legal counsel of Rippling maintains that the court evidence about this case cannot be denied.
“The evidence in this case is undeniable. The highest levels of Deel’s leadership are implicated in a brazen corporate espionage scheme and they will be held accountable,” said Alex Spiro.
Uncovering a suspected espionage
A strategic honeypot test run by Rippling resulted in the discovery of the alleged espionage activity by Deel, one of their competitors.
In early October, Rippling dispatched an empty letter to Deel executives Phillipe Bouaziz and Spiros Komis and their outside counsel, Phillipe Bouaziz, referencing the nonexistent Slack channel titled “d-defectors.”
Rippling established the complete involvement of Deel’s leadership in corporate espionage by confirming that the targeted channel received unauthorized access from the alleged spy within several hours of sending the letter.
This led to a lawsuit filed by Rippling against Deel, accusing its rival of waging months-long corporate espionage operations that targeted its business secrets. The lawsuit filed by Rippling accuses Deel of using one of its employees as a corporate spy who extracted important information, including trade secrets and customer data. At the same time, the company was worth $12 billion.
Rippling alleges Deel’s spy fled a confrontation at its Dublin office, locking himself in a bathroom before declaring, “I’m willing to take that risk,” and fleeing despite warnings not to delete evidence from his phone because this may lead to jail time.
Deel-Rippling rivalry sparks data privacy concerns in HR tech industry
The rivalry between Rippling and Deel reflects intense competition within the HR technology industry.
Rippling provides an extensive HR toolkit consisting of payroll processing alongside benefits administration, IT support, and learning platform features that benefit organizations that need single-platform management of domestic and international operations. On the other hand, Deel focuses on global HR and compliance services through its Employer of Record (EOR) platform, global contractor services, and immigration solutions.
Rippling demands compensatory financial compensation and punitive financial compensation from Deel because of the damage allegedly caused by their actions.
The court statement reveals that Deel denied every allegation and intended to submit their counterclaims. Deel’s official representative described the allegations as “sensationalized claims” whose main purpose was to deflect attention from Rippling’s allegations of Russian sanctions violations.
The growing worries about data protection within HR platforms raise questions about how this court dispute might alter customer faith in platforms that handle employee confidential information.
As the legal dispute continues, the outcome of the case could reshape the HR technology market by making companies focus on establishing enhanced transparency combined with data security and ethical approaches for sustaining customer confidence in this competitive sector.
