Posted on 04/09/2012 6:55:04 AM PDT by ShadowAce
North Korea no longer relies on a single foreign telecom company to carry its Internet traffic to and from the rest of the world.
Ever since Star Joint Venture launched the country’s first fully-fledged Internet connection in 2010, North Korean traffic has flowed across the country’s northern border and through an interconnection with China Netcom. China Netcom is one of China’s largest Internet backbone providers.
In the last few days the country’s sole Internet operator has begun using an interconnection with Intelsat, the Washington-based international satellite operator, to offer a second route to its network.
Existence of the link was revealed through analysis and monitoring of BGP (border gateway protocol) messages. These are automated announcements that constantly flow between routers and switches that make up the global Internet backbone and help determine the constantly-changing web of thousands of connections that link service providers worldwide.
Until April 4, North Korea’s Star JV network had only announced a link via China Netcom. So, when you typed “www.kcna.kp” into your browser, routers at your service provider determined the best way to reach Pyongyang knowing the last-but-one stop would be China Netcom. Now there’s a choice.
A second route via Intelsat started appearing in BGP announcements from April 5 (around 6am local Pyongyang time).
Detected prefix: 175.45.176.0/24 , Announced by AS131279 (STAR-KP -- Ryugyong-dong) Detected upstream/next hop AS: AS22351(INTELSAT Intelsat Global BGP Routing Policy)
The new route provides some backup, should China Netcom have a problem, and means users in some countries might see faster connection times to hit North Korea’s handful of websites.
NorthKoreaTech analysis of traffic to sites like KCNA from points around the globe shows the majority of connections still appear to run via China Netcom, but some are being made through Intelsat.
Star JV, the service provider formed by the country’s telecom ministry and Thailand’s Loxley Pacific, remains tight-lipped about its plans. It’s unknown if this connection is a temporary one, perhaps for an anticipated surge in traffic around the April 15th anniversary of the 100 years since the birth of Kim Il Sung, or if it will continue.
Here is the AS22351 INTELSAT Global BGP Routing Policy
http://www.robtex.com/as/as22351.html
But I do not see a link to AS22351 here: http://www.robtex.com/route/175.45.176.0-24.html
only to AS4837 China-Network-Communications-Group China Network Communications (CNC Group) http://www.robtex.com/as/as4837.html
The Google advisory gives green light:
Diagnostic page for AS131279 (STAR)
What happened when Google visited sites hosted on this network?
Of the 3 site(s) we tested on this network over the past 90 days, none served content that resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent.
The last time Google tested a site on this network was on 2012-03-22, and no suspicious content was found on this network within the past 90 days.
Has this network hosted sites acting as intermediaries for further malware distribution?
Over the past 90 days, this network has not hosted any sites that appeared to function as intermediaries for the infection of any other sites.
Has this network hosted sites that have distributed malware?
No, this network has not hosted any sites that have distributed malicious software over the past 90 days.
http://safebrowsing.clients.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=AS:131279
Interesting. BTW concerning North Korea, I got my hands on North Korea’s Red Star Linux. I run it within VMWare Fusion. Pretty interesting to look at but however, many of the links only works with DPRK’s internal intranet.
Yes, but with nearly no elecricity, who will notice?
Yes, but with nearly no elecricity, who will notice?
Can you get Firefox on a non-electric abacus?
It requires a complete re-write.
So now the Supreme Leader Aka FAT BOY can look at himself looking at things on the internet?? LOL
I read once that Fat Boy Senior was kinda fond of porn.Looking at Junior my guess is that that's the only action *he* can get.
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