A very strange thing happened on the Internet the day President Biden was Sworn-In. A Shadowy Company residing at a Shared Workspace above a Florida Bank announced to the World’s Computer Networks that it was now Managing a Colossal, previously idle Chunk, of the Internet Owned by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
After weeks of wonder by the Networking Community, the Pentagon has now provided a very terse Explanation for why it Hired a Shadowy Company to Manage a Colossal, previously Idle chunk of the Internet that it owns.
Many Basic Questions remain Unanswered, beginning with why it chose for the Task a Company that seems Not to have existed until September 2020. The Company, Global Resource Systems. That real estate has since more than Quadrupled to 175 Million Addresses, about 1/25th the Size of the current Internet. ”It is massive. That is the biggest thing in the history of the internet,” said Doug Madory, Director of Internet Analysis at Kentik, a Network Operating Company. It’s also more than Twice the size of the Internet space actually used by the Pentagon.
The Military hopes to “assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space,” said a Statement, issued Friday, by Brett Goldstein, Chief of the Pentagon's Defense Digital Service, which is running the Project. It also hopes to “identify potential vulnerabilities” as part of Efforts to Defend against Cyber-Intrusions by Global Adversaries, who are consistently Infiltrating U.S. Networks, sometimes operating from Unused Internet Address blocks.
The statement did Not specify whether the “pilot project” would involve outside Contractors. The Pentagon periodically contends with Unauthorized Squatting on its space, in part because there has been a Shortage of First-Generation Internet Addresses since 2011. They now Sell at Auction for Upwards of $25 each.
Madory said Advertising the Address Space will make it easier to Chase-Off Squatters and allow the U.S. Military to “collect a massive amount of background internet traffic for threat intelligence.”
Some Cybersecurity Experts have speculated that the Pentagon may be using the newly Advertised Space to create “Honeypots,” Machines Set-Up with Vulnerabilities to draw hackers. Or it could be looking to Set-Up Dedicated Infrastructure, Software and Servers, to scour Traffic for Suspect Activity. “This greatly increases the space they could monitor,” said Madory.
What a Pentagon Spokesman could Not explain Saturday, is why the DOD chose Global Resource Systems LLC, a Company with No Record of Government Contracts, to Manage the Address Space. “As to why the DoD would have done that I’m a little mystified, same as you,” said Paul Vixie, an Internet Pioneer credited with Designing its Naming System and the CEO of Farsight Security.
The Company has No Web presence, though it has the Domain grscorp.com. Its name Doesn’t 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 this month. She found its Name on a Tenant List and suggested trying Email. Records show the Company has Not obtained a Business License in Plantation.
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.
The only Name associated with it on the Florida Business Registry coincides with that of a man listed as recently as 2018 in Nevada Corporate Records as a Managing Member of a Cybersecurity/Internet Surveillance Equipment Company called Packet Forensics. The Company had nearly $40 Million in Publicly disclosed Federal Contracts over the past Decade, with the FBI and the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency among its Customers.
That man, Raymond Saulino, is also listed as a Principal in a Company called Tidewater Laskin Associates, which was Incorporated in 2018 and obtained an FCC License in April 2020. It Shares the same Virginia Beach, Virginia, Address, a UPS Store, in Corporate Records as Packet Forensics. The Two have different Mailbox Numbers. Calls to theNnumber listed on the Tidewater Laskin FCC Filing are answered by an Automated Service that offers Four different options but doesn’t Connect Callers with a Single one, Recycling All Calls to the initial Voice Recording.
Despite an Internet Address crunch, the Pentagon, which created the Internet, has shown No interest in Selling any of its Address Space, and a Defense Department Spokesman, Russell Goemaere, said None of the Newly announced Space has been Sold.
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