Nork server blunder leaks Kim Jong Un's entire DNS – all, er, 28 .kp domains

North Korea's zone file has leaked online, providing another insight into the hermit kingdom's internet.

According to the TLDR (TLD Records) project, which runs automated zone requests against top-level domains in order to act as an historical archive, the Norks reconfigured one of their nameservers for the .kp space and briefly forgot to block global zone transfers.

As a result, the project was able to grab records of all domain names that exist in the starving country. There aren't many – about 28 in fact – and its DNS looks a lot like most countries did in 1996.

North Korea has adopted the country-code norm of using second-level domains, such as the "co" in "co.uk". It seems to have been somewhat over zealous however, adding not just "co" but also com, net and org. It has the US-style gov and edu second-level domains, and the one somewhat original extension is "rep.kp", which seems to be the preserve of North Korea's technical department.

As for the number of domain names, we count just 26 across the entire DNS zone, with most of them used to hold more name servers – pointing to the very controlled nature of the country's internet, where citizens are required to get special government permission to be allowed to access the internet outside its country-wide intranet.

Most top-level domains restrict access to their zone files, largely on vague security grounds. But most have a process by which you can apply to gain access, often for no charge. With the explosion of new extensions, the zone files of the 1,000+ new gTLDs can be accessed through a single application to DNS overseer ICANN.

ICANN does not have the authority to grant access to country-code top-level domains, however, and North Korea has both restricted access and refused to grant permission to it.

Intranet

Of course inside the country, the situation is less dire: there are an estimated 5,500 websites, although access to them is reportedly restricted to specific, highly monitored internet cafes.

Its new Netflix-like service, intriguingly titled Manbang, requires a special set-top box connected to a modem and then the phone line, offering five channels of unadulterated Jong-un fun. We've yet to see a breakdown of the box, but it's a fair bet that it runs on open source software, has monitoring software installed, and doesn't let users get out to the broader internet.

The country also has its own operating system – stuffed with surveillance tools – and its own computer game. ®