What an IP Address Can Reveal About You and How You can be Safe

IP Address is a phrase that is very important and very useful in multiple criteria. As much it is essential, it also comes with some drawbacks. IP Addresses are handy, but they are only helpful to the Police, and the higher positions who deal with crime and with them the information is safe but not precise. 

There are many versions of the IP Address, but IPv6 is mostly used. Firstly, what is an IP Address? IP stands for Internet Protocol, and it’s a numerical label assigned to every device connected to a computer network that uses any IP for communication. It serves only two foremost things about the user – Identification and location addressing. To make the Internet better and more logical, it has two tiers- public and private. 

It’s a 128bits number. The IP address space is managed by IANA and by RIRs. The role of the IP address is pretty much to know about the user and to locate the host. Since 1984 IP addresses have been working, over the years, a lot of changes were made to better the working of IP addresses. 

IP Addresses can reveal very much about us like- our location. With knowledge of our IP address, someone can hack our device with all personal needs. It’s not just the leaking of our information; it’s also about our safety. Even someone can impersonate us with our IP Address. Impersonating is very fun for people, and they tap into this crime without even any clue, what can lead this too, and some do this intentionally. 

Things that IP address reveals Below are the following things that can be explained by an IP address :

1. Geolocation
2. Browsing history
3. Preferences of Ads
4. Company name 
5. Messaging history 

Geolocation

It is the technique of assessing the geographical location of any person, device via the internet. Your IP address can reveal your site, i.e., country, region, or city you are from, but the accuracy of the area depends on the IP address lookup tool. It’s partially correct because your IP address will not reveal your exact physical location to the snooper.

A digital profile will display to the snoopers, formed from the data collected from your online activities and ip address location. 

Browsing History

The Internet service provider (ISP) can assess which websites and which services you use. In some countries in the world, ISPs are required to collect and store other data of their use for a limited time. If the company or government can serve anytime an ISP a subpoena, they would have to reveal all the details of the person regarding their location, their name, their physical address, etc.

All of your browsing histories can then be disclosed to your company and government. The onlookers can reveal your identity anytime by your IP address and all of your browsing history. 

Preferences Of Ads

You browse the internet and lots and lots of advertisements one after the other start displaying on the site you are browsing. When you click on the ads, the advertisers can find out just by your IP address. The advertisers can get the preferences of advertisements that you watch, by easily associating your IP address with the activities you are browsing online.

Eventually, when advertisers get to know your ads preferences, lots and lots of ads will follow your way while browsing the internet and will ruin your experience on the internet. 

Company Name 

Every company uses a common source of internet throughout by broadband networks and Wi-Fi. The IP address can also reveal the names of companies. 

Messaging History 

In the cases related to online scams, all of the messages and chats can be revealed by cybersecurity cells for further action. Scams caused by various social media via online chatting can also be revealed by IP address, which further shows the name, location, etc. Of the scammer. 

Recently I was working as an intern in a company. The company name can’t be revealed. I found it on Internshala, the company tasks were profound, and as the HR stated, the company can’t have a Whatsapp group due to employee issues. 

The company and the HR were fraud, the guy harassed the intern HR and used the information and her location to humiliate the intern, but by god’s grace, the case was filed, so here you see how your data can be dealt with. So you never know where your information can be misused. All we can do is take precautions and make ourselves aware of these cybercrimes. 

How Can You Remain Safe?

When you google “ways to protect yourself from IP Address hacking,” you’ll get hundreds of ways, but all methods can’t be performed. Hence, you go for the simple ones like— we in today’s world usually apply a password to our devices, the only barrier which can restrict from accessing your data is Password, but we also have a tendency to keep and stick to default passwords which makes it vulnerable to attack. 

Always keep your Password a mix of alphabets and numbers with uppercase and lowercase. Another thing you can follow is to try to use a VPN( Virtual Private Network) with no malware issues, no privacy issues. It restricts all the snooping and spying. An excellent VPN service will mask your original IP address from many countries around the world, allowing you to remain free and anonymous while browsing the internet without any resistance.

Thirdly, be careful with installed applications, limit them all. It’s one primary tool for IP hacking, usually the messenger or communication apps. A proxy server application acts as an intermediary between your computer and internet masking your IP address while communicating or connecting to a server. 

Read this informative post to learn about netgear router login. Also, websites and various apps see your proxy address and not your original IP address. It thus works on behalf of the client when requesting any service. 

It ensures that users of the internet conform to acceptable policy. It supports user’s authentication to keep control of web activities. Proxies are of many types of viz, open proxy and reverse proxy. A proxy can also filter the encrypted data.

Tor is a short form of The Onion Router (thus the logo) and initially was a worldwide network of servers developed with the U.S. Navy, which allows people to browse the internet privately. It conceals your online activities and identities by moving your internet traffic across relays and nodes and then keeping it encrypted so nobody can trace your origin. 

Each time you visit a new website, your node sequence changes. So, it is not possible to track so many ip addresses. A considerable number of volunteers use it. It is sometimes used illegally.

Remember to keep your settings from public to private; it will only allow your companions to know your details. Very importantly, be careful with phishing emails and malicious content because mostly malware and device tracking software come in through these types of emails. Be careful what email you open and on what link you tap in. Lastly, keep your device fully immunized with trustable antivirus softwares. 

As if you get your old IP address hacked, try to move on a new IP address by changing your network because whenever you change the interface, your IP address changes. Also, you can use 192.168.10.253 in order to form a stable and secure network.

They are very much helpful and keep the wrong things coming to your way. People find things like threatening to innocents amusing, but we have to be smart enough to beat them. We live in a modern era where technology has reached beyond its peak, and with these cyber crimes has also been a good competition for technology. 

These little keys/steps can make you safe and make sure you keep your friends aware of the cause. Just a little vigilance can help in defending your IP Address from hacking. Being alert and gaining knowledge about every aspect you look into is also a big step towards securing your data.