QUOTE(Heat @ Fri 18th March 2011, 2:57pm)
U.S. Military Using Fake Online IDs In ‘Sock Puppet’ OperationWatch it admin, the next sock puppet you go after may have the Pentagon backing him up:
Does this mean sock-hunters are enemies of the state potentially putting US national security at risk? Waiting for Gitmo to open a division for wikiadmins
QUOTE
The “sock puppets,†a term for fake online identities, will operate at the MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, where U.S. Central Command operates, and in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq.
The cyber double agents will use social media and other websites, but “not Facebook or Twitter,†said Speaks. “This is not for use on U.S.-based websites. They are American companies.â€
Each of the fake personas uses the Ntrepid software to create “cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent,†each with their own background, history, supporting details and “real-time local information†to fool their new-found online friends.
One person could be pulling the strings on 10 “sock puppets†at one time “from the same workstation and without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries,†the contract said.
Rotating the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses daily should help shield them from discovery.
“This traffic blending provides excellent cover and powerful deniability,†the contract says.
The software also creates an online history for them so that over time the picture is fleshed out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. These things won't pass the Turing test for long. I think Somey's right and the US military should just hire Baxter plus some guys who speak Arabic.
My admiration goes out mostly to the Cotrell guy (quoted in another thread) who came from Abraxis and sold this turkey to the Pentagon.
If you want a smile, check out the Ntrepid Corp linked-in webpage
http://www.linkedin.com/company/ntrepid-corporationCotrell has a photo, but his three V.P.'s and the Sr. Systems engineer don't. Whether it's true or not, it's irresistable to wonder of these guys are real, or are merely socks of Cotrell. How would you know?
One guesses that their new analyst "Ramsi Asmar" is their token A-rab. "Research Fellow at Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies." Might as well say "CIA" right on his linked-in site.
On HIM they should have used their software.