{"id":45033,"date":"2021-06-14T16:53:34","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T16:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=45033"},"modified":"2021-06-14T16:53:34","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T16:53:34","slug":"darpa-linked-company-took-over-huge-chunk-of-pentagons-internet-on-bidens-inauguration-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/darpa-linked-company-took-over-huge-chunk-of-pentagons-internet-on-bidens-inauguration-day\/","title":{"rendered":"DARPA-linked company took over huge \u2018chunk\u2019 of Pentagon\u2019s internet on Biden\u2019s inauguration day"},"content":{"rendered":"

A shadowy company set up last September linked to a DARPA\/FBI contractor who peddled a \u2018lawful intercept<\/em>\u2019 internet spy device to government agencies and law enforcement a decade ago, took over a massive portion of the Pentagon\u2019s idle internet addresses on the day of President Biden\u2019s inauguration, according to an in-depth investigation by the Associated Press.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The valuable internet real estate has since quadrupled to 175 million IP addresses which were previously owned by the US Department of Defense \u2013 about 1\/25th the size of the current internet, and over twice the size of the internet space actually used by the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is massive. That is the biggest<\/em> acquisition in the history of the internet<\/em>,\u201d said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at network operating company Kenntic.<\/p>\n

The company, Global Resource Systems, was established by a Beverly Hills attorney, and now resides in a shared workspace above a Florida bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company did not return phone calls or emails from The Associated Press. It has no web presence, though it has the domain <\/em>grscorp.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

Its name doesn\u2019t appear on the directory of its Plantation, Florida, domicile, and a receptionist drew a blank when an AP reporter asked for a company representative at the office earlier in April.<\/em><\/p>\n

She found its name on a tenant list and suggested trying email. Records show the company has not obtained a business license in Plantation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Incorporated in Delaware and registered by a Beverly Hills lawyer, Global Resource Systems LLC now manages more internet space than China Telecom, AT&T or Comcast<\/em>.\u201d \u2013 Associated Press<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One name is linked to Global Resource Systems in the Florida business registry \u2013 that of Raymond Saulino \u2013 who as recently as 2018 was listed in Nevada corporate records as a managing director of a cybersecurity\/internet surveillance company called Packet Forensics. According to the report, \u201cThe company had nearly $40 million in publicly disclosed federal contracts over the past decade, with the FBI and the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency among its customers<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2011, Packet Forensics and Saulino, its spokesman, were featured in a Wired story because the company was selling an appliance to government agencies and law enforcement that let them spy on people\u2019s web browsing using forged security certificates. The company continues to sell \u201clawful intercept<\/em>\u201d equipment, according to its website. One of its current contracts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is for \u201charnessing autonomy for countering cyber-adversary systems<\/em>.\u201d A contract description says it is investigating \u201ctechnologies for conducting safe, nondisruptive, and effective active defense operations in cyberspace<\/em>.\u201d Contract language from 2019 says the program would \u201cinvestigate the feasibility of creating safe and reliable autonomous software agencies that can effectively counter malicious botnet implants and similar large-scale malware<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saulino is also listed as a principal with a company called Tidewater Laskin Associates. Incorporated in 2018 (and sharing the same Virginia Beach, VA address as Packet Forensics \u2013 a UPS store \u2013 with different mailbox numbers), Tidewater obtained an FCC license in April 2020 for unknown reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalls to the number listed on the Tidewater Laskin FCC filing are answered by an automated service that offers four different options but doesn\u2019t connect callers with a single one, recycling all calls to the initial voice recording.<\/em><\/p>\n

Saulino did not return phone calls seeking comment, and a longtime colleague at Packet Forensics, Rodney Joffe, said he believed Saulino was retired. Joffe, a cybersecurity luminary, declined further comment.<\/em><\/p>\n

Joffe is chief technical officer at Neustar Inc., which provides internet intelligence and services for major industries, including telecommunications and defense<\/em>.\u201d \u2013 AP.<\/em><\/p>\n

And now a company linked to Saulino, which didn\u2019t exist before September 2020, took control of a massive chunk of the Pentagon\u2019s internet space on inauguration day for unknown reasons. According to a terse and opaque explanation from the Pentagon\u2019s Brett Goldstein \u2013 head of the Defense Digital Service which is running the project, the military hopes to \u201cassess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space<\/em>\u201d and \u201cidentify potential vulnerabilities<\/em>\u201d in order to defend against cyber-intrusions by global adversaries who consistently infiltrate US networks \u2013 occasionally from unused internet blocks. What that has to do with Global Resource Systems is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

Explanations for what the internet space could be used for are purely speculative, and include \u201choneypots<\/em>\u201d \u2013 machines set up with vulnerabilities laid as bait to draw hackers:<\/p>\n

\u201cOr it could be looking to set up dedicated infrastructure \u2013 software and servers \u2013 to scour traffic for suspect activity<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis greatly increases the space they could monitor<\/em>,\u201d said Madory.<\/p>\n

Why did the Pentagon choose Global Resource Systems \u2013 a company linked to a \u2018spooky\u2019 individual \u2013 on inauguration day?<\/p>\n

\u201cAs to why the DoD would have done that I\u2019m a little mystified, same as you<\/em>,\u201d internet pioneer Paul Vixie told AP<\/em>.<\/p>\n

More via AP<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Deepening the mystery is Global Resource Systems\u2019 name. It is identical to that of a firm that independent internet fraud researcher Ron Guilmette says was sending out email spam using the very same internet routing identifier.<\/p>\n

It shut down more than a decade ago. All that differs is the type of company. This one\u2019s a limited liability corporation. The other was a corporation. Both used the same street address in Plantation, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s deeply suspicious<\/em>,\u201d said Guilmette, who unsuccessfully sued the previous incarnation of Global Resource Systems in 2006 for unfair business practices.<\/p>\n

Guilmette considers such masquerading, known as slip-streaming, a ham-handed tactic in this situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they wanted to be more serious about hiding this they could have not used Ray Saulino and this suspicious name.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Guilmette and Madory were alerted to the mystery when network operators began inquiring about it on an email list in mid-March. But almost everyone involved didn\u2019t want to talk about it. Mike Leber, who owns Hurricane Electric, the internet backbone company handling the address blocks\u2019 traffic, didn\u2019t return emails or phone messages.<\/p>\n

Despite an internet address crunch, the Pentagon \u2013 which created the internet \u2013 has shown no interest in selling any of its address space, and a Defense Department spokesman, Russell Goemaere, told the AP<\/em> that none of the newly announced space has been sold.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric<\/strong>
\nJune 14, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A shadowy company set up last September linked to a DARPA\/FBI contractor who peddled a \u2018lawful intercept\u2019 internet spy device to government agencies and law enforcement a decade ago, took over a massive portion of the Pentagon\u2019s idle internet addresses on the day of President Biden\u2019s inauguration, according to an in-depth investigation by the Associated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1387],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-censored-news-politics-5127-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45037,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45033\/revisions\/45037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}