North Korea Accidentally Exposes Internet Says CNBC

[backtoiam]

North Korea accidentally lets world access its internet and it only has 28 websites
Arjun Kharpal | @ArjunKharpal
18 Hours Ago

Someone in North Korea is in a lot of trouble.

The secretive state somehow accidentally opened access to all the websites hosted on its servers, revealing that it only has 28 registered domains.

On Monday at around 10 p.m. Pacific time, North Korea's nameserver – that contains information about all of the ".kp" websites – was misconfigured, allowing it to be accessed. This meant Matthew Bryant, a researcher, was able to access the domain names and some of the file data about the site.

Bryant dumped all of this on Github – a site that hosts computer code. It's the first real look into the secret online world of the hermit state North Korea.

Some of the websites take a long time to load and some are inaccessible. Among the 28 sites listed is one called Air Koryo, a flight booking site, and one named Friend, presumably some sort of social network.

One website that has always been accessible outside of North Korea is the Korean Central News Agency – the state-run propaganda site.

A Reddit page lists all of the websites discovered and below are some examples of the sites.





http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/21/north-ko ... sites.html

More at Redditt

It would be great if we could compile a list of what each website is about and maybe some images. Those who can get onto the websites, please reply and post a picture so I can add it to this comment.

/u/black_kitsune kindly provided a link to a website that features information about some of the North Korean websites: http://www.northkoreatech.org/the-north ... site-list/

Here's a list of all the websites and what they are in case you can't visit the link at the top:

http://airkoryo.com.kp - Air Koryo. A flight ticket website.

http://cooks.org.kp - Korean Dishes. Culinary website with recipes.

http://friend.com.kp - Friend. Appears to be something similar to Yahoo and MSN.

http://gnu.rep.kp - National Unity. A sort of religious group or well-being group.

http://kass.org.kp - Korean Association of Social Scientists. Not sure, but I think it's an education website for both school and adult education courses maybe.

http://kcna.kp - Korean Central News Agency. Yet another news website.

http://kiyctc.com.kp - Korean International Youth and Children's Travel Company. I guess a travel company of both youth and children.

http://knic.com.kp - Korean People Total Insurance Company. Insurance company.

http://koredufund.org.kp - Korea Education Fund. Appears to be a charity to increase the quality of education.

http://korelcfund.org.kp - Korea Elderly Care Fund. A charity for the elderly.

http://korfilm.com.kp - KorFilms - Pyongang International Film Festival. The film website.

http://ma.gov.kp - Maritime Administration of Korea. Laws of the water can be found here.

http://masikryong.com.kp - currently can't access

http://naenara.com.kp - Naenara. - This is actually the "official" government site in the sense of a description of the country. It has plenty of news articles but it contains a decent amount of (tourist oriented?) information about the country (thanks /u/tinoh124 for the correction).

http://nta.gov.kp - Korea Tourism. The Korean Tourism board, looks like you can get tours from here.

http://portal.net.kp - currently can't access

http://rcc.net.kp - currently can't access

http://rep.kp - currently can't access

http://rodong.rep.kp - Rodong. Official news website. Click here to view the Rodong website in the user-friendly Western version, thanks again to /u/tinoh124 for this.

http://ryongnamsan.edu.kp - Kim Il Sung University. - The university's website.

http://sdprk.org.kp - Sports Chosun. - The sports website.

http://silibank.net.kp - currently can't access

http://star-co.net.kp - currently can't access

http://star-di.net.kp - currently can't access

http://star.co.kp - currently can't access

http://star.edu.kp - currently can't access

http://star.net.kp - currently can't access

http://vok.rep.kp - Voice Of Korea. A news website.



https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/com ... p_only_28/

[82_28]

Yeah that dude is dead. Unless they farmed the administration out to South Korea or something.

[DrEvil]

Those are just the pages accessible through the regular internet. North Korea also has a completely separate internal network that isn't connected to the wider internet.

[coffin_dodger]

Those are just the pages accessible through the regular internet. North Korea also has a completely separate internal network that isn't connected to the wider internet.

So the NKs have an internal internet? - not bad for a supposed rag-tag country portrayed here in the West as having leaders with bowlish 'hey dude, what a square' haircuts, pasty, frightened citizens that hover perilously close to near famine, laughably unsophicated weapons of death and frightening ideologies. Does America have a similar internal Internet that is accessible only by its residents?

If not, I guess it's one-nil to NK. But surely the Exceptional Americans have a way in? I mean, they surveille everyone, do they not? It's part of an exceptional culture's core tenet - to be the best at winning.

American Exceptionalism. Do any of you yanks feel embarrassed portraying yourselves at home and abroad as exceptional? Or are you exceptional people? Do you believe it? What makes you exceptional? Maybe intellect, compassion, trinkets collected or the availability of a highly sophisticated war machine that can kill everyone, everywhere? It seems a bit hollow now when Hilary and Donny are the most exceptional of the exceptional that can be mustered. Perhaps delusional is more appropriate than exceptional.

For those that find me agonising, I'm nearly done.

[dada]

If not, I guess it's one-nil to NK. But surely the Exceptional Americans have a way in? I mean, they surveille everyone, do they not? It's part of an exceptional culture's core tenet - to be the best at winning.

American Exceptionalism. Do any of you yanks feel embarrassed portraying yourselves at home and abroad as exceptional? Or are you exceptional people? Do you believe it? What makes you exceptional? Maybe intellect, compassion, trinkets collected or the availability of a highly sophisticated war machine that can kill everyone, everywhere? It seems a bit hollow now when Hilary and Donny are the most exceptional of the exceptional that can be mustered. Perhaps delusional is more appropriate than exceptional.

For those that find me agonising, I'm nearly done.

They'll ignore you. We have no time to give North Korea or American Exceptionalism the 'rigorous treatment.' Can't you see, the Donny and Hillary show is on! haha

(I'm not really laughing)

[DrEvil]

Those are just the pages accessible through the regular internet. North Korea also has a completely separate internal network that isn't connected to the wider internet.

So the NKs have an internal internet? - not bad for a supposed rag-tag country portrayed here in the West as having leaders with bowlish 'hey dude, what a square' haircuts, pasty, frightened citizens that hover perilously close to near famine, laughably unsophicated weapons of death and frightening ideologies. Does America have a similar internal Internet that is accessible only by its residents?

Yes, several in fact: Defense Information Systems Network / SIPRNET / NIPRNET plus any number of corporate networks.
Setting up an internal network isn't hard. Just basic internet infrastructure that isn't connected to the wider net.

If not, I guess it's one-nil to NK. But surely the Exceptional Americans have a way in? I mean, they surveille everyone, do they not? It's part of an exceptional culture's core tenet - to be the best at winning.

Sure, if they have physical access somewhere inside North Korea and a way to pipe the signal out.

American Exceptionalism. Do any of you yanks feel embarrassed portraying yourselves at home and abroad as exceptional? Or are you exceptional people? Do you believe it? What makes you exceptional? Maybe intellect, compassion, trinkets collected or the availability of a highly sophisticated war machine that can kill everyone, everywhere? It seems a bit hollow now when Hilary and Donny are the most exceptional of the exceptional that can be mustered. Perhaps delusional is more appropriate than exceptional.

For those that find me agonising, I'm nearly done.

You sound like you're defending North Korea? And what's with the dig at American exceptionalism (not that I don't appreciate it )? Wrong thread methinks.

[coffin_dodger]

You sound like you're defending North Korea? And what's with the dig at American exceptionalism (not that I don't appreciate it )? Wrong thread methinks.

The many thousands of threads on this board concerning Western shenanigans, at home and abroad, signals a niggling doubt that all may not be as it appears in our demonising media regarding NK. Perhaps they think our ruling elite are shysters and won't play ball with us.

But enough of that crazy-talk.

[dada]

You sound like you're defending North Korea? And what's with the dig at American exceptionalism (not that I don't appreciate it )? Wrong thread methinks.

What is the point of the thread, though? It's just another 'news tidbit' posted on RI without any comment or critique.

'Here, here's a consumer item I hoover'd up, and am regurgitating for other consumers.' Garbage in, garbage out.

Authoritarians say, 'ooh, someone in North Korea is in troubuulll...'

And of course, we can all feel better about our 'free' internet. 'heh. only twenty-eight websites.'

Then there's, 'ooh, a tech article. Secret online world. Cool.'

And, 'mmm. Korean food.' (That was my reaction)

Also, 'I like to travel. Imagine travelling to North Korea? Wow.'

Finally, 'Alright, I'm bored. What else you got for me, internet?'

[82_28]

Ummmm, yeah, dada. The interest in NK speaks for itself. I don't know why you would even ask why someone would post this.

It's there!

[dada]

Ummmm, yeah, dada. The interest in NK speaks for itself. I don't know why you would even ask why someone would post this.

It's there!

I know, but I think the things that speak for themselves are the things in need of the most critique. Without examining the things we take for granted, we're just playing games. We may as well be discussing the drapery.

[Burnt Hill]

Well, I take the draperies for granted, but I suppose they speak for themselves.

[dada]

What do they say?

[Burnt Hill]

They say the carpet doesn't match.

[dada]

See? Here we go, discussing the drapery again.

Although this drapery speaks for itself. hm. Maybe we should critique it.

Does the carpet agree?


Edited to add: With the drapes, I mean. Does the carpet agree with the drapes. I don't care if the carpet agrees with me.

No one respects the carpet. You know why?

Because the carpet lets everybody walk all over it, of course.

[JackRiddler]

I don't have any drapery.