Latest news of the domain name industry

Recent Posts

IPv6 addresses are the new domain hacks

Kevin Murphy, June 8, 2011, 11:05:02 (UTC), Domain Tech

It’s World IPv6 Day today, and a number of companies have decided to get a little playful with their new IP addresses, using them to spell out their brands.
IPv6 uses hexadecimal notation – the 10 digits and the letters A through F – so it’s possible to use them as “vanity” addresses using something like h4x0r-speak or license plate hacks.
Here’s a few IPv6 “hacks” I’ve found in AAAA records so far today:

BBC – bbc.net.uk – 2001:4b10:bbc::1
Facebook – facebook.com – 2620:0:1c18:0:face:b00c:0:3
Cisco – cisco.com – 2001:420:80:1:c:15c0:d06:f00d (Cisco dog food)
F5 Networks – f5.com – 2001:19b8:101:2::f5f5:1d
US Department of Commerce – commerce.gov – 2610:20:0:20:5ec:d0c:d0c:d0c

A few more, such as Daily Kos’ 2001:48c8:1:c::feeb:beef, seem deliberate but don’t seem to pertain particularly to the site’s brand.
I don’t think anybody’s going to use these addresses to navigate, but I suppose they make prove useful mnemonics for address administrators within those companies.

Tagged: ,

Comments (3)

  1. Hans says:

    IPv6-enabled cat feeder using 2001:ba8:1f1:f137::feed @ http://ipv6catfeeder.com (IPv6 only)

  2. theo says:

    That’s why we have domain names in the first place Kevin 😉

  3. cps says:

    Also, note F5 has another easter egg in the AAAA’s. The AAAA for pdns1.f5.com is
    Address: 2620:0:c10:4c00::f5f5:4353
    4353 at F5 is read ‘For 3DNS’
    3DNS is the predecessor to GTM, the original GSLB product at F5.
    Yes, it’s totally on purpose, and no, it’s not all about mnemonics, but it does work out that way. 🙂

Leave a Reply to theo