Traceroute google.com

Traceroute zoom.us

Traceroute wechat.com

Traceroute threejs.com

I am confused about the *** that keeps generating so I asked ChatGPT.

Specific Analysis of Your Output:

• Hop 10: You are leaving the local NYU network and entering Level3's network (a major internet backbone provider). You get a response here, so the route is still progressing.
• Hops 11 and 12: These return **, indicating that these intermediate routers likely have ICMP responses disabled, but the route continues since you get responses later on (hop 13).
• Hop 13: This belongs to PCCWGlobal, which is another large internet backbone provider connecting your traffic internationally.
• Hops 14 and beyond: Many more ** appear after hop 13, which could mean that the final destination (or any intermediate networks) is filtering out ICMP traffic or the route to WeChat's servers blocks these types of requests.

Conclusion:

The *** you're seeing from hop 11 onwards is most likely due to firewall or security policies, especially on the part of the destination (WeChat). Many large services like WeChat, Google, or Facebook often block ICMP traffic to prevent network probing. Your traffic is likely reaching its destination, but the intermediate or destination networks are blocking traceroute's diagnostic probes. This is normal and often seen when tracing routes to large, secure networks.

Traceroute Analysis

It’s nice that ChatGPT can help summarize my activities:

Common Network Providers in Your Activities:

1. NYU Internal Network:
   • Many of your traceroutes begin within NYU's internal network, as evidenced by domains like wireless.net.nyu.edu, net.nyu.edu, and coregwd.net.nyu.edu. This indicates that NYU controls the first part of your network traffic when you are connected to its Wi-Fi or other network infrastructure. This is common when you're working on campus or using university-provided internet.
   • Key Domains:
     • 10.18.x.x and 10.254.x.x (internal NYU IP addresses)
     • net.nyu.edu
2. Level 3 Communications / Lumen Technologies:
   • After leaving NYU’s network, your traffic is often routed through Level 3 Communications, now part of Lumen Technologies. This is a large Tier 1 network provider that manages a significant portion of internet backbone traffic. In the logs, you can see level3.net as a key part of your network path.
   • Key Domains:
     • level3.net
     • IP addresses such as 4.30.x.x
3. PCCW Global:
   • When accessing international sites (such as WeChat), your traffic passes through PCCW Global, which is a major provider in Asia, particularly for traffic routed to China and Southeast Asia.
   • Key Domains:
     • pccwglobal.net
     • IP addresses such as 63.216.x.x
4. Verizon:
   • For personal internet usage (e.g., at home), your traceroutes indicate that your traffic is routed through Verizon's network (e.g., verizon-gni.net). Verizon is a large ISP in the U.S., and this would be a provider handling your internet connection when you're not on the NYU network.
   • Key Domains:
     • verizon-gni.net
     • IP addresses such as 98.109.x.x
5. Cloudflare:
   • Some of your traffic, such as when accessing Zoom or Google services, passes through Cloudflare, a content delivery network (CDN) that provides optimized performance and security. Cloudflare often manages the last hop before you reach the final destination.
   • Key Domains:
     • cloudflare.com
     • IP addresses such as 162.158.x.x