could IP address reveal the identity of someone?

K

kenny1999

Member
could IP address reveal the identity of someone? I know it 's possible for FBI CIA , KGP or NBA (joke) etc to know who you are by tracking your IP address, but could random unimportant someone on the web who gets my IP be able to know my full name and my exact residential address registered?

I remember many many years ago I had an experience of being hacked by someone on chat room with something called Netbus, he could control my computer and ejecting and closing my CD-ROM. At that I was still running on windows 95 or 98 I forget.

I'd like to know if it's still that easy to be hacked nowadays?? I've came into serious speech 'fight' with someone on the other forum and he threatens to hack my computer and reveal all my identity. I am not a computer expert, but I still have some common senses. For example, I don't download things from suspicious sites and I don't execute EXE files from untrusted sources, and I have installed a simple free AV (Avira), besides that, I use computer as most common users. I don't know if it's safe enough.
 
The reason you were infected by Netbus is that you ran a program that had it attached. That was a pretty popular one along with Sub7.

But, no. Whois records for the IP resolve to your ISP. Only your ISP has those address<->IP correlations. That is why for a lot of DMCA/Piracy cases that your ISP has to be served with a warrant or similar. Some geolocation utilities can identify the city but you typically can read the same information off of a traceroute.

Most children who finally find out what the 'ipconfig' command is make silly threats like you've experienced.
 
I'd like to know if it's still that easy to be hacked nowadays?
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Just someone out of blue somehow remotely dropping into your computer, practically impossible. Hacking just about always involves somehow getting the user to install malware on their computer that usually phones home.
 
Yeah I wouldn't worry as long as you don't install anything. One kid that was in HS with me was notorious for hacking in to stuff in the school that he shouldn't. He sent me a program saying it was a "game". I was pretty suspicious of it and curious what it actually was so I opened it. I'm sort of friends with him and I was about to replace the computer anyway and it didn't have anything of concern on it. He said he could see everything on it and kept opening my disc drive to mess with me. He said if I had a webcam he could see me, but I didn't have one at the time. After a few minutes of poking around on the computer he turned control back over to me and never did anything with it again.

He was like 16 when he did this and disguised the program as a simple C++ program that looked like a game.
 
beers said:
The reason you were infected by Netbus is that you ran a program that had it attached. That was a pretty popular one along with Sub7.

But, no. Whois records for the IP resolve to your ISP. Only your ISP has those address<->IP correlations. That is why for a lot of DMCA/Piracy cases that your ISP has to be served with a warrant or similar. Some geolocation utilities can identify the city but you typically can read the same information off of a traceroute.

Most children who finally find out what the 'ipconfig' command is make silly threats like you've experienced.
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so , did you mean that for those who claim to hack my computer or reveal my identity because they have my IP address are usually silly threats by children or immature people, and I do not have much to worry about if I have common sense with computer like not opening suspicious EXE??

How about clicking links?? Sometimes it's difficult to avoid clicking improper links or accidents with annoying popups
 
Clicking links can be dangerous. A malicious website could do all sorts of nasty things.

Knowing your IP address is less so. Every website you visit knows your IP address for example.
 
IP addresses change for home users, so if someone does find out your IP it will change in a matter of a few days to a few weeks when your modem is power cycled. With your IP, they can find out your ISP and your rough location, however that isn't always correct. Some times my devices report back as being states away with certain IPs, and sometimes the same town, there is no 100% accurate way to locate it using geolocation tools online.

The IP address is to your modem/router, not your desktop, and most home routers disable remote access by default so there is very little someone can do unless your router has a known vulnerability. Devices connected on the LAN side of your router are generally safe unless you setup a DMZ, port forward common ports, etc.
 
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