215

Port 215/tcp is registered with IANA under the service name softpc, with the registry's Description column literally holding the company name "Insignia Solutions" rather than a functional description — reported here exactly as it appears in the registry, unmodified. The assignment is dual-registered as separate identical rows for 215/tcp and 215/udp, with assignee/contact listed as [Martyn_Thomas] and a blank Reference field; no RFC is cited for this entry, and none has been invented to fill that gap. "softpc" refers to SoftPC, a commercial x86 PC-hardware emulator built by Insignia Solutions (founded 1986) that let non-x86 workstations — Unix, Macintosh, and Sun systems — run MS-DOS and Windows software; the port registration is a legacy artifact of that specific product's networking feature rather than a general-purpose protocol. No registration or modification date is present in the registry for this entry, so those fields are left null rather than fabricated. On the modern Internet the port is essentially dormant: Nmap's own scan-frequency corpus records 215/tcp at a frequency of 0.000000 (never observed open) and 215/udp at 0.000412 (rare). No CVEs or confirmed malware families tie to this port; one low-authority site's vague, undated trojan-history disclaimer is noted but not treated as evidence. Overall this reads as an obsolete, single-vendor legacy assignment with negligible current exposure.

IANA assignment

softpc — Description column reads "Insignia Solutions" (company name, not a functional description, reported as-is); reference field blank; assignee/contact [Martyn_Thomas]; dual-registered 215/tcp + 215/udp as separate identical rows

[Confirmed] — IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry (cached CSV + live TXT registry cross-checked)

Range class

well-known (0–1023)

Registration/modification dates

blank in both the cached registry CSV and the live IANA text registry; left null, not fabricated [Confirmed] — IANA registry

Prevalence

nmap-services open-frequency 215/tcp ≈ 0.000000 (never observed open in scan corpus); 215/udp ≈ 0.000412 (rare but nonzero) [Confirmed] — nmap-services (GitHub raw file / nmap.org)

Related ports

none specifically documented as related to this legacy single-vendor assignment [Unknown]

Primary use

registered for SoftPC, an x86 PC-hardware emulator by Insignia Solutions (founded 1986) enabling non-x86 workstations (Unix, Macintosh, Sun) to run MS-DOS/Windows software; the port is a legacy artifact of that product's network feature rather than a general protocol family

Other/unofficial uses

none documented in any source consulted [Unknown]

Security implications

no CVEs or confirmed malware families found associated with this port; a single low-authority site (auditmypc.com) makes a generic, undated claim that "a Trojan or Virus has used this port in the past" with no specifics and explicitly flags current infection status as "No" — treated as Unknown rather than confirmed [Unknown, single low-authority source] — auditmypc.com; near-zero real-world open frequency plus product obsolescence support a low-risk characterization

Typically seen on

no current legitimate use documented; historically associated with installations running Insignia Solutions SoftPC (obsolete product) [Likely]

Analyst note

An open port 215 today is unlikely to be legitimate SoftPC traffic given the product's obsolescence and the port's near-zero observed-open frequency; more plausibly misconfiguration or scanner noise than an active threat.

Port 215/udp is registered with IANA under the service name softpc, described simply as "Insignia Solutions," with Martyn Thomas listed as both assignee and contact. The Registration Date, Modification Date, and Reference (RFC) columns are all blank in the IANA registry — this is a legacy assignment from the era before IANA tracked those fields consistently, not a gap in research. The name traces to Insignia Solutions' SoftPC, a commercial PC-hardware emulator sold from the late 1980s through the 1990s that let Unix workstations and other non-PC platforms run DOS and Windows software by emulating an x86 PC in software. No IANA specification, RFC, or other protocol document describes what actually travels over 215/udp — the registry entry appears to reserve the number for the vendor's product rather than point to a published wire format, so the concrete on-the-wire behavior of any SoftPC networking feature is unverified. The same service name and description are dual-registered on 215/tcp. SoftPC itself is a discontinued product with no evidence of active use today, and no CVEs, malware families, or scanning/abuse telemetry tie to this port in any source checked, though that absence reflects low research visibility for a niche legacy port rather than a confirmed clean bill of health.

IANA assignment

softpc — "Insignia Solutions"; assignee/contact [Martyn_Thomas]; Registration Date, Modification Date, and Reference fields blank in the source registry [Confirmed] — the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry; https://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.txt

Range class

well-known (0–1023) [Confirmed] — port number 215 falls in the IANA well-known range by definition

Dual registration

also registered as 215/tcp with the identical service name, description, and assignee [Confirmed] — the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry

Primary use

named for Insignia Solutions' SoftPC, a late-1980s/1990s PC-hardware emulation product that let non-PC platforms (notably Unix workstations) run DOS/Windows software; no protocol spec found describing the actual wire format

Typically seen on

no confirmed real-world deployments identified; treat an open 215/udp as anomalous/legacy rather than expected

Modern relevance

SoftPC is a discontinued product; no evidence located of active modern software using this port [Unknown] — no citation available

Security/exposure notes

no CVEs, no documented reflection/DDoS abuse, and no scanning-telemetry evidence found; informal port-lookup directories show no trojan/malware association but are low-confidence crowd-sourced sources, not scan data

[Unknown] — https://www.speedguide.net/port.php?port=215; https://www.auditmypc.com/udp-port-215.asp