Hidden messages and surprises tucked away in DNS records for curious explorers.
A sysadmin hid a quote from River Song (Doctor Who) deep in their DNS zone, almost certainly knowing that only the most curious of DNS spelunkers would ever find it. We found it. We're delighted.
you wanna see it? the thing you have been chasing me around the galaxy for? say please, pretty please, with sugar on. Happy birthday, now get out of my sight! amberhopper.co.uk published a strongly-worded abuse policy directly into their DNS TXT records — twice, once for DKIM-signed mail and once for SPF-matching mail. It's actually a creative way to document your anti-spam stance where anyone querying DNS can read it.
This domain operates a strict abuse policy regarding email. If you are receiving unsolicited or unwanted email from this domain which is CRYTOGRAPHICALLY SIGNED by the published domainkeys, please contact domain-abuse{at}deluser{dot}net. This admin embedded a full HTML `<iframe>` pointing directly to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" (dQw4w9WgXcQ) with `autoplay=1` inside their DNS zone. Anyone who queries this TXT record and renders the HTML would be immediately Rickrolled. This is genuinely legendary easter egg placement.
<iframe width='420' height='315' src='//www.youtube.com/embed/dQw4w9WgXcQ?autoplay=1' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe> An "Ecumenopolis" is a hypothetical planet-wide city (like Coruscant in Star Wars). The owner is using DNS TXT records to publish lore for a sci-fi universe: "It is said in the ancient texts that humanities capacity for destruction is rivalled only by its lust for greatness. They also say that humanity spent its infancy and adolescence on only one world, its name and place lost to the mysteries of time." The most niche publishing medium imaginable.
It is said in the ancient texts that humanities capacity for destruction is rivalled only by its lust for greatness. They also say that humanity spent its infancy and adolescence on only one world, its name and place lost to the mysteries of time. A classic hacker recruitment tactic: "If you can see this message then you are the sort of person we are looking for. Drop us a line to see what jobs we have on offer." Placing a job ad in a DNS TXT record is an elegant filter — only engineers, security researchers, or curious developers running `dig` or `nslookup` will ever see it. If you ran `dig TXT dogsdns.co.uk`, they want to hire you.
If you can see this message then you are the sort of person we are looking for. Drop us a line to see what jobs we have on offer. Two companies are fighting over the "dmarcian" trademark in US and EU courts. A judge mandated that a disclaimer appear anywhere the brand is used. The administrators achieved malicious compliance by stuffing the entire legal injunction into a public DNS TXT record: "A United States Court has entered a preliminary injunction that prohibits DMARC Advisor from using the word dmarcian unless such use is accompanied by a statement which reads [...] This trademark is the trademark of dmarcian, Inc."
A United States Court has entered a preliminary injunction that prohibits DMARC Advisor from using the word dmarcian unless such use is accompanied by a statement which reads [...] This trademark is the trademark of dmarcian, Inc. and dmarcian, Inc. has not authorised, sponsored, or endorsed this product or service. The four TXT records on this domain contain the Baseline Test recited by K in Blade Runner 2049 — itself a quote from Vladimir Nabokov's poem Pale Fire: "Against the dark, a tall white fountain played. / Within one stem. And dreadfully distinct / A system of cells interlinked within cells interlinked / And blood-black nothingness began to spin." The admin distributed the test line-by-line across their DNS zone. Cells interlinked.
Against the dark, a tall white fountain played.
Within one stem. And dreadfully distinct
A system of cells interlinked within cells interlinked
And blood-black notherness began to spin. "Universal Exports" is the fictional import-export cover company used by MI6 and James Bond across Ian Fleming's novels and the film franchise. The owner of 007bond.co.uk has placed it as their sole TXT record — a thematically perfect use of a novelty .co.uk domain. We hope MI6 does not have a DKIM requirement.
Universal Exports, Ltd.