SpyVeillance: Global Resource Systems Packet Forensics Saulino Pentagon AS8003 Neustar Tidewater Laskin

[grarpamp]

https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-government-and-politics-b26ab809d1e9fdb53314f56299399949
https://www.wired.com/2010/03/packet-forensics/

Verify and pin your pki certs...

Global Resource Systems Packet Forensics Raymond Saulino Pentagon
AS8003 Neustar Tidewater Laskin Defense Digital Service

"This Is Massive": Shadowy DARPA-Linked Company Took Over 'Chunk' Of
Pentagon's Internet In Inauguration Day Mystery

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, took over a
massive portion of the Pentagon's idle internet addresses on the day
of President Biden's inauguration, according to an in-depth
investigation by the Associated Press.

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.

"It is massive. That is the biggest thing in the history of the
internet," said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at network
operating company Kenntic.

The company, Global Resource Systems, was established by a Beverly
Hills attorney, and now resides in a shared workspace above a Florida
bank.

    The company did not return phone calls or emails from The
Associated Press. It 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. -Associated Press

One name is linked to Global Resource Systems in the Florida business
registry - that of Raymond Saulino - 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, "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."

    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’s web browsing using forged security certificates.

    The company continues to sell “lawful intercept” equipment,
according to its website. One of its current contracts with the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is for “harnessing autonomy
for countering cyber-adversary systems.” A contract description says
it is investigating “technologies for conducting safe, nondisruptive,
and effective active defense operations in cyberspace.” Contract
language from 2019 says the program would “investigate the feasibility
of creating safe and reliable autonomous software agencies that can
effectively counter malicious botnet implants and similar large-scale
malware.”

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 - a UPS store - with different
mailbox numbers), Tidewater obtained an FCC license in April 2020 for
unknown reasons.

    Calls to the number 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.

    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. Joffe is chief technical officer at Neustar Inc., which
provides internet intelligence and services for major industries,
including telecommunications and defense. -AP

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.

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.

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 — software and servers — to scour
traffic for suspect activity."

"This greatly increases the space they could monitor," said Madory.

Why did the Pentagon choose Global Resource Systems - a company linked
to a 'spooky' individual - on inauguration day? "As to why the DoD
would have done that I’m a little mystified, same as you," internet
pioneer Paul Vixie told AP.

More via AP:

Deepening the mystery is Global Resource Systems’ 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. It shut down more than a decade ago. All
that differs is the type of company. This one’s a limited liability
corporation. The other was a corporation. Both used the same street
address in Plantation, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

“It’s deeply suspicious,” said Guilmette, who unsuccessfully sued the
previous incarnation of Global Resource Systems in 2006 for unfair
business practices. Guilmette considers such masquerading, known as
slip-streaming, a ham-handed tactic in this situation. “If they wanted
to be more serious about hiding this they could have not used Ray
Saulino and this suspicious name.”

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’t want to talk about it. Mike Leber, who
owns Hurricane Electric, the internet backbone company handling the
address blocks’ traffic, didn’t return emails or phone messages.

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, told the AP on
Saturday that none of the newly announced space has been sold.