IP address shortages are one of the biggest problems facing the network today. Despite the fact that IPv6 has been active for almost a decade, the network has not yet made the big leap to use it as the definitive protocol. This type of situation generates all kinds of movements under the shade with IP addresses, such as their sale on the black market. Now, it has been the US military itself that has secretly moved 4% of Internet IP addresses .
The event occurred on the same day that Joe Biden was sworn in. That day, a suspicious company located in a shared office above a Florida bank was managing 175 million IP addresses that to date were owned by the United States Department of Defense.
Each IP is currently selling for $ 25
This transfer appears to comply with the requirement that the Pentagon make the addresses it treasured available on the Internet. This seems to have been fulfilled, but there are doubts about the Florida company, since it did not exist until last September. The company, called Global Resource Systems LLC , now manages 175 million IP addresses , worth $ 4.375 million , as each IP address is typically sold at auctions for about $ 25 .
The company does not answer calls or emails, nor does it have an active website; although it does own the domain grscorp.com. There is also no one physically in the offices of the shared space in which they are supposedly registered. Quite suspicious for a company that now manages more internet space than carriers like China Telecom, AT&T or Comcast.
The company has had suspicious activity in the last 15 years
The company is registered in the name of Raymond Saulino , whose first registration is in 2018 as members of a cybersecurity company called Packet Forensics . That company has received $ 40 million in federal funds in recent years, with contracts such as one to offer a device that allows spying on user browsing histories. The company currently has active contracts, such as one to develop technologies that allow them to conduct active defense operations in cyberspace. Interestingly, a company with the same name and headquarters was operating more than a decade ago, where it was dedicated to sending spam by email.
The Pentagon has not sold any of the addresses, and due to the buzz around the company, they have made an announcement about it. With the company, they want to prevent unauthorized uses of the Defense Department’s IP addresses, being able to analyze the traffic for suspicious activity.