A shadowy company set up last September linked to a DARPA \/ FBI contractor who peddled a ‘lawful intercept’ internet spy device to government agencies and law enforcement a decade ago,\u00a0took over a massive portion of the Pentagon’s idle internet addresses on the day of President Biden’s inauguration<\/strong>, according to an in-depth investigation by the\u00a0Associated Press<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n The valuable internet real estate has since quadrupled to 175 million IP addresses which were previously owned by the US Department of Defense – 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 “It is massive. That is the biggest thing in the history of the internet<\/strong>,” 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 The company did not return phone calls or emails from The Associated Press.\u00a0It has no web presence, though it has the domain grscorp.com<\/strong>. Its name doesn\u2019t appear on the directory of its Plantation, Florida, domicile, and\u00a0a receptionist drew a blank<\/strong>\u00a0when an AP reporter asked for a company representative at the office earlier this month. She found its name on a tenant list and suggested trying email. Records show\u00a0the company has not obtained a business license in Plantation<\/strong>.<\/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. –Associated Press<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n One name is linked to Global Resource Systems<\/strong>\u00a0in the Florida business registry – that of\u00a0Raymond Saulino<\/strong>\u00a0– who as recently as 2018 was listed in Nevada corporate records as a managing director of a cybersecurity\/internet surveillance company called\u00a0Packet Forensics<\/strong>. According to the report, “The 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.”<\/p>\n In 2011, Packet Forensics and Saulino, its spokesman, were featured in a\u00a0Wired\u00a0<\/a>story because\u00a0the company was selling an appliance to government agencies and law enforcement that let them spy on people\u2019s web browsing using forged security certificates<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n The company continues to sell \u201clawful intercept\u201d equipment<\/strong>, 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<\/strong>.\u201d A contract description says it is investigating \u201ctechnologies for conducting safe, nondisruptive, and effective active defense operations in cyberspace.\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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Saulino is\u00a0also<\/em>\u00a0listed as a principal with a company called Tidewater Laskin Associates. Incorporated in 2018 (and sharing the same Virginia Beach, VA address as Packet Forensics –\u00a0a UPS store<\/strong>\u00a0– with different mailbox numbers), Tidewater obtained an FCC license in April 2020 for unknown reasons.<\/p>\n Calls 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\u00a0he believed Saulino was retired<\/strong>. Joffe, a cybersecurity luminary, declined further comment. Joffe is chief technical officer at Neustar Inc., which provides internet intelligence and services for major industries, including telecommunications and defense<\/strong>. -AP<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And now a company linked to Saulino, which didn’t exist before September, took control of a massive chunk of the Pentagon’s internet space on inauguration day for unknown reasons.<\/p>\n According to a terse and opaque explanation from the Pentagon’s Brett Goldstein – head of the Defense Digital Service which is running the project, the military hopes to “assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space” and “identify potential vulnerabilities” in order to defend against cyber-intrusions by global adversaries who consistently infiltrate US networks – occasionally from unused internet blocks. What that has to do with Global Resource Systems is anyone’s guess.<\/p>\n Explanations for what the internet space could be used for are purely speculative, and include “honeypots” – machines set up with vulnerabilities laid as bait to draw hackers, “Or it could be looking to set up dedicated infrastructure \u2014 software and servers \u2014 to scour traffic for suspect activity.”<\/p>\n “This greatly increases the space they could monitor,” said Madory.<\/p>\n Why did the Pentagon choose Global Resource Systems – a company linked to a ‘spooky’ individual – on inauguration day?<\/strong>\u00a0“As to why the DoD would have done that I\u2019m a little mystified, same as you,” internet pioneer Paul Vixie told\u00a0AP<\/em>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/bidenpentagon_0.jpg?itok=KrBrCK6m\")
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