[ntp:questions] Coded messages on US govt timeserver's nonstandard port

Marc Brett marc at fordson.demon.co.uk
Tue Apr 5 08:46:05 UTC 2005


This had me going for a while, but it turns out it's just a server status report
via the finger(1) command.  No secret CIA key distribution channel, sadly.

Ref: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/04/04/coded_messages_on_us.html

Coded messages on US govt timeserver's nonstandard port 

A US government timeserver has a bizarre service running on a nonstandard port
that will output sweet, random coded jump-rope poems and numbers: 

    % telnet time.nist.gov 78
    Trying 192.43.244.18...
    Connected to time.nist.gov.
    Escape character is '^]'. 

    P: P: My name is Patsy: and my husband's name is Paul:
    We come from Pittsburgh: and we sell Peaches::
    880-223-821-266-590-908-785
    $ 0 875 3000 8 1 0 0
    Connection closed by foreign host. 





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