414

Port 414/tcp is registered with IANA under the legacy name "infoseek," but no protocol was ever specified for it, and it carries no known legitimate use — it should never be exposed to the public internet, and a responsive listener there is unexpected on any host.

IANA's Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry lists 414 under service name infoseek, description "InfoSeek," with Steve Kirsch given as both assignee and contact. The Reference, registration-date, and modification-date fields are all blank, and the assignment is dual-registered identically on TCP and UDP.

The name traces to InfoSeek, the 1990s web search engine Kirsch co-founded. The registration reads as a company/name reservation from the early IANA port-numbering era rather than a documented application protocol — no RFC or technical specification exists, and no formal definition of expected traffic on this port could be found.

Secondary port-database sites (auditmypc.com, SpeedGuide, nmap-services) simply mirror the IANA "infoseek" label without adding independent findings. auditmypc.com's page carries generic disclaimer boilerplate used across its entire catalog while explicitly flagging "no" for virus/Trojan association on this specific port, so that boilerplate should not be read as a port-414-specific security finding.

No forum thread, vendor document, honeypot writeup, or scan report naming a specific piece of software that listens on or generates traffic toward 414/tcp was found in this research pass; that field is left Unknown rather than guessed.

IANA assignment

infoseek — "InfoSeek"; reference (blank); assignee/contact Steve Kirsch; dual-registered 414/tcp + 414/udp with identical metadata [Confirmed] — the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry line 821; https://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xhtml

Range class

well-known (0–1023) [Confirmed]

Prevalence

0.000013 (nmap-services open-frequency) [Confirmed] — this site's own tooling

Related ports

no functional relation identified beyond generic legacy IANA name registrations; see the /port/ hub for range context

Primary use

no documented protocol; legacy name-only registration tied to the 1990s InfoSeek search engine (Steve Kirsch) rather than an active, specified service

Other/unofficial uses

none credibly documented; secondary port databases only mirror the IANA label

Security implications

no CVEs or malware documented for this port; auditmypc.com's generic "Trojan port" disclaimer is templated site-wide boilerplate, and the same page explicitly flags no virus/Trojan association for 414

Typically seen on

no host/OS/appliance default identified; a responsive 414/tcp is unexpected anywhere [Unknown]

Analyst note

Port 414 should be treated as anomalous if observed active; there is no legitimate protocol or software base to explain traffic on it.

Port 414/udp is IANA-registered under the service name infoseek, but no RFC, published protocol specification, or confirmed real-world deployment exists for it, so it should not be expected on a public-facing host and a listener there warrants investigation rather than routine trust.

The IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry lists 414 as dual-registered on both UDP and TCP, described simply as "InfoSeek" and assigned to Steve Kirsch — the founder of the 1990s InfoSeek search engine. The Reference column is blank, meaning IANA cites no RFC or specification behind the assignment, and no registration or modification date is recorded in the registry.

No vendor documentation, blog post, forum thread, or port-lookup aggregator surfaced evidence of any application, game client, or service that actually generates traffic on 414/udp; community aggregators return no synopsis at all for the port. This reads as an administrative-era IANA reservation that likely was never built out into a live, deployed protocol.

SANS Internet Storm Center's scan-activity tracker shows only routine, low-volume internet background-noise scanning on port 414 — a handful of hits per day from scattered IPs — with the overall threat level marked green and no CVEs or malware families tied to the port.

IANA assignment

infoseek — "InfoSeek"; reference (blank — no RFC cited in IANA registry); assignee Steve Kirsch; dual-registered 414/tcp + 414/udp [Confirmed] — https://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xhtml?page=8

Range class

well-known (0–1023) [Confirmed]

Prevalence

0.000346 (nmap-services open-frequency) [Confirmed] — this site's own tooling

Related ports

414/tcp (dual IANA registration of the same infoseek name) [Confirmed]

Primary use

no documented protocol or RFC beyond the bare IANA label; appears to be an administrative registration never built out into a live specified protocol

Other/unofficial uses

none found in vendor docs, forums, or port-lookup aggregators; internet-security.com lists "No Data Available" for 414/udp

Security implications

SANS ISC shows only routine low-volume background scanning (threat level green), no CVEs, no malware association found

Typically seen on

not typically seen in legitimate deployments; a responsive 414/udp is an anomaly worth investigating [Unknown]

Analyst note

This is essentially a dormant/administrative IANA reservation with no confirmed real-world traffic; treat any observed activity as anomalous rather than routine.