Ntrepid is an American

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

, hardware, and

cyber security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

company, registered in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

and based in Herndon,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

.Nick Fielding and Ian Cobain
"Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media"
''The Guardian'', March 17, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.Alex Spillius

''The Telegraph'', March 17, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.

History

In 2008, the

Anonymizer An anonymizer or an anonymous proxy is a tool that attempts to make activity on the Internet untraceable. It is a proxy server computer that acts as an intermediary and privacy shield between a client computer and the rest of the Internet. It acce ...

company was acquired by the Abraxas Corporation, which was purchased by Cubic in 2010 for $124 million. Some of Abraxas' former employees left to form Ntrepid that same year. Lance Cottrell, founder of Anonymizer, is the chief scientist at Ntrepid. Anonymizer is wholly owned by Ntrepid.Shaun Waterman
"U.S. Central Command ‘friending’ the enemy in psychological war"
''Washington Times'', March 1, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.

Military contract

In March 2011, Ntrepid won a $2.76 million contract from the U.S. military for "online persona management." 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." It would allow for one operator to anonymously create and control up to ten personas from one computer. The project is overseen by

U.S. Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...

(Centcom), whose spokesman Commander Bill Speaks stated that the operation would be carried out in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, Persian, and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Operation Earnest Voice Operation Earnest Voice (OEV) is a communications program by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). Initially, the program was developed as a psychological weapon and later thought to have been directed at jihadists across Pakistan, Afghanis ...

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Ntrepid official site
Internet manipulation and propaganda Computer security software companies Propaganda in the United States