Ntrepid

Ntrepid

Company type	Software, hardware, and cyber security company
Founded	October 25, 2010; 14 years ago (2010-10-25)
Headquarters	Herndon, Virginia , U.S.
Products	Passages ION Nfusion Timestream Tartan Virtus ELUSIV
Subsidiaries	Anonymizer
Website	ntrepidcorp.com

Ntrepid is an American software, hardware, and cyber security company, registered in Florida and based in Herndon, Virginia.[1][2][3]

History

In 2008, the Anonymizer company was acquired by the Abraxas Corporation, which was purchased by Cubic in 2010 for $124 million.[4] Some of Abraxas' former employees left to form Ntrepid that same year.[4] Lance Cottrell, founder of Anonymizer, was the chief scientist at Ntrepid.[5] Anonymizer is wholly owned by Ntrepid.[6][7] In October 2018, Ntrepid transitioned Anonymizer.com consumer anonymity accounts to Invincibull to focus on managed attribution.[8]

Military contract

In March 2011, Ntrepid won a $2.76 million contract from the U.S. military for "online persona management."[2] The contract was for the creation of technology which would allow for blogging activities on websites, exclusively outside of the United States, to "counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda."[6][9] It would allow for one operator to anonymously create and control up to ten personas from one computer.[3]

The project is overseen by U.S. Central Command (Centcom), whose spokesman Commander Bill Speaks stated that the operation would be carried out in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu.[2]

The project is thought to be connected with Operation Earnest Voice.[2]

References

1. "Business Entity Detail: Ntrepid Corporation". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
2. Cobain, Ian; Fielding, Nick (2011-03-17). "Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
3. Alex Spillius, "Pentagon buys social networking 'spy software'", The Telegraph, March 17, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
4. "Anonymizer tied to company selling TrapWire surveillance to governments". Network World. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
5. "Using System Fingerprints to Track Attackers". Tripwire. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
6. Shaun Waterman, "U.S. Central Command ‘friending’ the enemy in psychological war", Washington Times, March 1, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
7. "Examining the ties between TrapWire, Abraxas and Anonymizer". ZDNet. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
8. "Ntrepid Transitions Anonymizer VPN Accounts to InvinciBull". Businesswire. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
9. "US Military Propagandizes Social Media With Fake Accounts". Vox News. Retrieved 22 April 2014.

External links

• Ntrepid official site