[ti:Pentagon Gives Company Control of Massive Unused Internet Space] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The U.S. Department of Defense [00:03.04]has given a private company control [00:06.76]over a massive part of its unused internet space. [00:13.32]The Florida-based company, identified in news reports [00:18.36]as Global Resource Systems, now controls [00:23.16]more than 175 million IP addresses belonging to the military. [00:32.12]An IP address is a number given to each computer [00:37.24]when it is connected to the internet. [00:41.12]The addresses have long been owned by the Defense Department, [00:45.96]but were not being used by the agency. [00:50.24]Experts in the computer networking industry [00:54.16]had been wondering about the change, [00:57.00]which happened the day President Joe Biden [01:00.88]was sworn into office in January. [01:05.44]Military officials made no official announcement about the move. [01:12.28]The huge number of IP addresses involved [01:16.84]has been estimated to be about 1/25th the size of the current internet. [01:25.12]It is also thought to be more than twice the size [01:29.08]of the internet space actually used by the Pentagon. [01:34.76]"It is massive. That is the biggest thing in the history of the internet," [01:41.16]expert Doug Madory told The Associated Press. [01:46.92]He is the director of internet analysis at Kentik, [01:52.16]a company that designs and operates computer networks. [01:57.44]The Defense Department confirmed the change in a statement [02:02.92]by Brett Goldstein, chief of the Pentagon's Defense Digital Service, [02:09.48]which is running the project. [02:12.32]The military hopes to "assess, evaluate [02:16.76]and prevent" the "unauthorized use" [02:20.32]of agency IP address space, the statement said. [02:25.84]It added that the "pilot project" [02:29.40]also aims to identify possible "vulnerabilities" [02:34.44]that could lead to internet attacks by international groups [02:39.64]attempting to break into U.S. networks. [02:44.20]In addition to attempted attacks, [02:46.96]the Defense Department has also experienced problems [02:51.52]with outside groups or individuals [02:54.88]taking over and using its internet space without permission. [03:01.24]This happened, in part, because there has been a shortage [03:05.92]of first-generation internet addresses since 2011. [03:11.80]Kentik's Madory said advertising the address space [03:17.08]will make it easier to get rid of unauthorized users. [03:22.28]It should also permit the military to "collect [03:26.76]a massive amount of background internet traffic [03:31.00]for threat intelligence," he added. [03:35.48]Some cybersecurity experts have suggested the Pentagon [03:40.32]may be using the newly advertised space [03:44.28]to create so-called "honeypots." [03:47.60]These are machines set up with vulnerabilities [03:52.16]to draw in internet attackers, or hackers. [03:58.12]The project could also be the start of a new system of software [04:03.64]and servers set up to search internet traffic [04:08.16]for suspect activity, the experts say. [04:13.20]"This greatly increases the space they could monitor," Madory said. [04:20.16]A Defense Department spokesman did not comment on why the military [04:25.68]chose Global Resource Systems to oversee the IP addresses. [04:32.48]The company, which operates an office in Plantation, Florida, [04:37.40]did not return phone calls or emails [04:40.88]from The Associated Press seeking information. [04:44.76]A Defense Department spokesman told the AP [04:49.04]that even with the current shortage of IP addresses, [04:53.76]the Pentagon has no interest in selling any of its unused space. [05:00.96]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM