{"id":174327,"date":"2026-01-26T21:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T21:02:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:02:26","slug":"why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>From the Department of Bizarre Anomalies: Microsoft has suppressed an unexplained anomaly on its network that was routing traffic destined to example.com\u2014a domain reserved for testing purposes\u2014to a maker of electronics cables located in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Under the <a href=\"https:\/\/datatracker.ietf.org\/doc\/html\/rfc2606\">RFC2606<\/a>\u2014an official standard maintained by the Internet Engineering Task Force\u2014example.com isn&#8217;t obtainable by any party. Instead it resolves to IP addresses assigned to Internet Assiged Names Authority. The designation is intended to prevent third parties from being bombarded with traffic when developers, penetration testers, and others need a domain for testing or discussing technical issues. Instead of naming an Internet-routable domain, they are to choose example.com or two others, example.net and example.org.<\/p>\n<h2>Misconfig gone, but is it fixed?<\/h2>\n<p>Output from the terminal command cURL shows that devices inside Azure and other Microsoft networks have been routing some traffic to subdomains of sei.co.jp, a domain belonging to Sumitomo Electric. Most of the resulting text is exactly what\u2019s expected. The exception is the JSON-based response. Here\u2019s the JSON output from Friday:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/information-technology\/2026\/01\/odd-anomaly-caused-microsofts-network-to-mishandle-example-com-traffic\/\">Read full article<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/information-technology\/2026\/01\/odd-anomaly-caused-microsofts-network-to-mishandle-example-com-traffic\/#comments\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the Department of Bizarre Anomalies: Microsoft has suppressed an unexplained anomaly on its network that was routing traffic destined to example.com\u2014a domain reserved for testing purposes\u2014to a maker of electronics cables located in Japan. Under the RFC2606\u2014an official standard maintained by the Internet Engineering Task Force\u2014example.com isn&#8217;t obtainable by any party. Instead it resolves to IP addresses assigned to Internet Assiged Names Authority. The designation is intended to prevent&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan? - UshopWell.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan? - UshopWell.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the Department of Bizarre Anomalies: Microsoft has suppressed an unexplained anomaly on its network that was routing traffic destined to example.com\u2014a domain reserved for testing purposes\u2014to a maker of electronics cables located in Japan. Under the RFC2606\u2014an official standard maintained by the Internet Engineering Task Force\u2014example.com isn&#8217;t obtainable by any party. Instead it resolves to IP addresses assigned to Internet Assiged Names Authority. The designation is intended to prevent...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UshopWell.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-26T21:02:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UShopWell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UShopWell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UShopWell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc\"},\"headline\":\"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-26T21:02:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":199,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan? - UshopWell.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-26T21:02:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\",\"name\":\"UshopWell.com\",\"description\":\"The Premiere Online Marketplace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UshopWell\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/pandaSwea.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/pandaSwea.png\",\"width\":365,\"height\":359,\"caption\":\"UshopWell\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc\",\"name\":\"UShopWell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"UShopWell\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/author\\\/kburnettu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan? - UshopWell.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan? - UshopWell.com","og_description":"From the Department of Bizarre Anomalies: Microsoft has suppressed an unexplained anomaly on its network that was routing traffic destined to example.com\u2014a domain reserved for testing purposes\u2014to a maker of electronics cables located in Japan. Under the RFC2606\u2014an official standard maintained by the Internet Engineering Task Force\u2014example.com isn&#8217;t obtainable by any party. Instead it resolves to IP addresses assigned to Internet Assiged Names Authority. The designation is intended to prevent...","og_url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/","og_site_name":"UshopWell.com","article_published_time":"2026-01-26T21:02:26+00:00","author":"UShopWell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UShopWell","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/"},"author":{"name":"UShopWell","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/person\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc"},"headline":"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan?","datePublished":"2026-01-26T21:02:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/"},"wordCount":199,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/","name":"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan? - UshopWell.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-26T21:02:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/why-has-microsoft-been-routing-example-com-traffic-to-a-company-in-japan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/","name":"UshopWell.com","description":"The Premiere Online Marketplace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization","name":"UshopWell","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pandaSwea.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pandaSwea.png","width":365,"height":359,"caption":"UshopWell"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/person\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc","name":"UShopWell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"UShopWell"},"url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/author\/kburnettu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}