How is a person traced via an IP address?

Question

And what if you connect to an unsecured wireless network,does that have an impact on tracing someone? Last,how do you "hide" your IP address,surely this isnt possible?

Answer 1

There is a great myth surrounding IP addresses. You can trace a network connection with an IP address, but you cannot trace a person or a computer.



IP addresses are like phone numbers on the internet. They are how one computer knows where to find another computer on a logical computer network. IP addresses were not designed to locate a computer geographically, but it is possible due to information volunarily provided by network operators.



Tracing an IP address sends a trace packet through a network, tracing it's hops until it reaches it's destination. Each hop may contain identifying information, such as the network operator and their address or location. This information is provided for reference, but it can be used to approximate the general location of the end target.



Here's what you can do with an IP trace:

Determine the general area of the target's location (City/region, state, country).

Determine what ISP they use.



Here's what you CANNOT do with an IP trace:

Determine the target's home address.

Identify the computer that is assigned that IP address.

Determine the identity of the person using the computer at that IP address.



Regardless of where you connect, your personal computer does not store information about who it is or where in the world it's located. Even if it did (which it doesn't), it won't send that information back when replying to ping requests. There is absolutely no way a person can pinpoint you or your computer's absolute location using just an IP address.



IP addresses are largely anonymous for home users. To extend the phone number analogy, think of an IP address as a phone number for a prepaid cell phone. You can use the number to contact the owner, but there is no owner information associated with the phone, nor is there an address or any other personally identifiable information. A computer/network can easily dump an IP address and acquire a new one in a matter of seconds.



You cannot "hide" your IP address. You can disguise it by using a proxy, or block trace pings with a firewall, but packets will ultimately reach your computer. There is no way to eliminate an IP address and have a working network at the same time. The internet cannot work without IP addresses, otherwise the remote computer will not know who to send the requested information back to.



Dumb little script kiddies make up all these scary rumors about IP addresses, and threaten to hack your IP address, come to your house, and drink all your Mountain Dew, but it's just not true. An IP address is an address, a means to locate something... but it is an Internet Protocol address that works only on the Internet; it is not a mailing address or geographical address. People see "addresss" and think someone can find them, and a cyber-bully will use that uncertainty against people.

Answer 2

The IP address is assigned to the ISP and re-assigned to individual users via DHCP. The ISP will know to which of their subscribers they have "leased" that IP at a particular date and time, so they would be able to trace the IP back to a specific subscriber.



If you connect to an unsecured wireless network, then the IP obviously would trace back in the same way to the person or business who was running the wireless network. If that person or business does not have any way to know who was on their network, then "the buck stops here." But keep in mind that many businesses -- coffee shops, libraries, etc. -- running wifi have security cameras. So you may still not be completely "anonymous."



There are ways to "spoof" an IP address.



Unauthorized use of a computer or network resouce is against the law in most jurisdictions. And many are starting to really crack down on this sort of thing.

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

Actually, you CAN trace an IP address back to a specific computer - always. Sort of. Specifically, you can trace the MAC address back to a single NIC card. Most people aren't in the habit of pulling their NIC cards out of one computer and into another.



So what's a MAC address? Each and every NIC card (Network Interface Card) as a MAC address assigned to it by the manufacture. That MAC address is absolutely, positively unique. MAC stands for Media Access Control.



Well, sort of. If you're using something like VMWare to create a virtual PC, you CAN change and/or hard code the MAC. But, even VMWare has a specific set of octets assigned to VMWare. This support FAQ at VMWare explains you can change only the last three octets. The others are assigned to VMWare and cannot be changed (e.g. ethernet0.address = 00:50:56:XX:YY:ZZ)



http://www.vmware.com/support/gsx3/doc/network_macaddr_gsx.html



Here's a site where you can search for a specific MAC address, and they'll tell you who manufactured the NIC card:



http://www.coffer.com/mac_find/



The Internet is not, and never will be, anonymous. The law CAN track you down eventually if they have good reason. It may take time, but it's always possible.

Answer 5

If you connect to an unsecured wireless network, then that person should have taken an additional step to prevent you from logging in. If they have firewall\intrusion detection software, then it can certainly log users on its network along with the time logged in, duration, and certain activities. You can't hide your IP address because your IP address is what is used for you to have an internet connection. A knowledgeable person can still take a look at the TCP and IP headers for IP spoofing also.

Answer 6

Yes and no, You can pick the more tab in GMAIL picks how original and see the full message headers. Many IP addresses though are nat'd so you'll see the nat'd address and the smtp server it went to before hitting Google's mail exchange.