I.P Address

[Esse]

Helloooo


I was wondering - what all can a person do when they have your I.P address. My friend was able to get my I.P address just by me emailing him. This scares me because (although I know he woudn't), he could forward the email and could everyone have my I.P address? I heard that is all someone needs for them to use something like Subseven and hack your computer? If I have a firewall and a Norton AntiVirus does this completely block off everything the person can do? Could someone please try and explain this to me, furthering my knowledge in this would help me alot!

-Luiiigi

 

[GameGURU]

Actually, your ip is given off everytime you get on the net. If you are really worried about it, get a proxy. Although proxies slow the internet down soooo much it is sick. Anyone who is an admin in the latest forums nowadays can see your ip and see where you live, your ISP and all kinds of things. Even your real name. Although that is some certain software, so if you are worried about it, get a proxy.

 

[blackx]

Well,

That probably wasn't the most helpful advice regarding IP addresses.

Yes it is possible to obtain an IP address from email headers, that's not such a big deal.

Also, if you use a dial up or DSL chances are you have a dynamic IP address, and as such, the IP will change most times you connect to the Internet.

As for obtaining your name and where you live in relation to your IP address, this is all determined by how often you give such information out over the Internet.

Having a firewall is probably the best advice to protect yourself from intrusion, and I'm sure others here could offer other advice as well, just ensure your firewall blocks all non-essential ports to limit attacks.

If you're really worried about somebody obtaining your IP address from your email, then I advise Web based email for sending to somebody you think would use an IP against you. Web based email (Hotmail) sends from a server, and as such will not include your local IP address.

I hope this helps a little to ease your mind?

 

[mrdinkel]

If I have a firewall and a Norton AntiVirus does this completely block off everything the person can do?

Not necessarily. Lets take a case of a friend of mine. They had blaster and sasser invade their win XP system, and it caused the system to shutdown on a whim. This had many factors, but ultimately the fact that she did not have XP SP1 hurt the system. If she had put on some other service packs, critical updates, had the firewall on, and had up-to-date definitions it would have prevented that (to an extent: she had McAfee Antivirus).

The point I'm trying to drive home, i guess, is don't put all your trust in an antivirus and a firewall. That, and if you don't get up-to-date on the definitions, you may as well not have an antivirus.

If your installation has nonpatched security vulnerabilites, its like having a hole in your insulation : you pay a big bill to have it fixed, and in the meantime, you get annoyed.

Another page to look at (at your leisure), is www.grc.com. It'll explain things really well. Gave me some valuable information that got my security up a bit.

Hope this provides some valuable insight. OH, and welcome to Tech-Forums

 

[Esse]

Heh - I didn't mean to come off as that scared. I don't mind so much that my I.P is given out as long as people can't do much with it. By the way I do use hotmail and he still got the IP? OH well, the information I was given was helpful and thanks. Making a new computer and all I want everything to be perfect. And security is the most important and the last thing I've looked at.

-Ike

p.s Thank you for the welcome - these boards are so helpful. I used to go to the "discussions" at www.pcmag.com , that forum is nothing compared to these.

edit: the site you gave me, I read through a little of it and didn't understand where the helpful information was??

 

[enzio]

how could i go about checking if my IP is dynamic? (since i have DSL i still dont know if it is hehe) Like is there some kind of dos command?

 

[shan]

yea, ifconfig -all on xp (i think), check that it will probably change when you shutdown your computer, if you still have questions call your isp and say, "Is my IP address static or dynamic?" if they say static (which they most likely will) you really have now worries, if it's static, then it's always gonna be the same....just get a firewall or something, you should be fine..

but the fact that you have dsl, do you have just a hub or router or just plugged directly into the modem? if you have a router your ip address will probably show as 192.168.0.100 or something like that, that case you really shouldn't have to worry, you're router's got a firewall, if you wanna config it you can probably just go to 192.168.0.1 in your browswer and set it from there.

 

[hilowe]

ifconfig is not a command that windows recognizes. the command is ipconfig/all.

Like shan said, if you've got a router on your network, that will show you the internal ip address of your computer, not the public ip that everybody else sees.

If you are connected directly to the modem, without a router, and you type ipconfig, there may be a couple of lines that say "lease obtained" and "lease expires." If those two lines are there, you've got a dynamic ip.

 

[mikesgroovin]

if you still have questions call your isp and say, "Is my IP address static or dynamic?" if they say static (which they most likely will) you really have now worries, if it's static, then it's always gonna be the same....just get a firewall or something, you should be fine..

Did you mean dynamic in the first situation?

-Mike

 

[shan]

yea, my bad