Mock Ip Address
What you can do with an IP address, and how to protect yours from hackers
With someone’s IP address, you can learn a user’s general location, and disable some parts of their internet browsing device connected to the internet has an IP address, which helps websites identify your third-party programs or services, someone with your IP address could possibly block you from reaching certain you’re concerned about the security of your IP address, consider installing a firewall and Business Insider’s Tech Reference library for more stories.
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Every device that connects to the internet has an IP (Internet Protocol) address. The
IP address, which is composed of a series of numbers separated by decimal points, looks something like “198. 169. 0. 100. ” This number is used to help devices talk to each other and exchange data. Your network router has its own IP address, of course, as does every device on your network. But because these identifiers are so important, that means a hacker can potentially use them against you. Here’s what you should know about your IP address, and what it can be used for.
What you can do with an IP addressFirstly: most users won’t have to worry about any of this. It’s unlikely that any hacker would take the time to learn your specific IP address, and manipulate your specific device. There’s no real reward in it for them, so unless they love playing pranks, it would be a waste of fact, every website you visit already knows your IP address — that’s how they know to load on your computer, as opposed to someone else’ said, armed with your IP address, someone has the potential to take certain actions against your network. As such, it’s a good idea to keep your IP private from individuals you don’t could:
Block you from accessing websitesIt’s possible to use your IP address to prevent you from performing certain online activities. The most common example of this is blocking your ability to reach a certain site, or to post messages in forums or the comment section of web sites. In fact, this is the most common way that website administrators ban rulebreakers. It’s often referred to as an “IP Ban. “Your IP address can also be used to block or ban you from playing online games on some gaming services.
Learn your general geographic location Your IP address can reveal your geographic location. In most cases, this won’t be any more specific than your city and state. In rare cases, it could be as specific as your IP address also carries the name of your Internet Service Provider (the company that gives you internet access — think Spectrum, or Xfinity).
Your IP address signals where you are. ; William Antonelli/Business Insider
While there’s not a lot someone can do with this information, it can be combined with details from other sources to piece together data about your identity.
Perform a Denial of Service AttackKnowing your IP address, a malicious user may be able to perform a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, in which your network is flooded with data. It prevents normal traffic from getting through and overloads the network’s ability to function. However, these attacks are usually directed at large companies or websites — it’s rare that anyone would set up a DoS attack on a regular user.
How to protect your IP addressWhile there are some risks, your IP address alone poses very limited danger to you or your network. Your IP address can’t be used to reveal your identity or specific location, nor can it be used to hack into or remotely take control of your computer. That said, if you’re still concerned, a few simple precautions can help protect and foremost, your network should be protected with a firewall. Most routers have firewalls built in, but you should contact your router manufacturer or internet service provider to learn about your additional protection, you can use Virtual Private Network (
VPN) software. A VPN hides your IP address from all outside users, making it extremely difficult for someone to uncover your IP address or monitor your online activity.
NordVPN is one of the most popular VPN services.
NordVPN; William Antonelli/Business Insider
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Dave Johnson
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Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he’s also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.
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What is IP Spoofing? What is it used for & How to avoid it? – PureVPN
Online Security“What is IP Spoofing? ” An Average Internet User’s Guide
What is IP spoofing? What is IP spoofing used for? Is IP spoofing illegal? IP spoofing related incidentsCurrent state of IP spoofingHow IP spoofing worksHow to prevent IP spoofing? How PureVPN can help you protect against IP Spoofing attacksIP spoofing FAQsFinal Words
Ever heard the story of the Little Red Riding Hood? I believe you might have.
The story is about a young little girl, who leaves her house and treks into the woods to meet her ailing grandma. However, little did she know, her grandma was already locked up in the cupboard and the one disguising as her was the big bad wolf. The wolf wanted to eat the young girl as well as the food she had in her basket.
Well, hackers can sometimes be like that, the big bad wolf, strolling in the woods (the Internet) and seeking unsuspecting Internet users. They can disguise as a trusted someone or a source and do what they are good at (i. e., stealing), without leaving a hint.
IP address spoofing is one such practice that hackers, spammers or scammers put to use to con you or rip you off your sensitive information.
Want to watch the video instead? Here’s a video for “what is IP spoofing? “
What is IP spoofing?
IP spoofing is a technique where the attacker creates an IP that has a fake or bogus source IP address in its header. The IP is spoofed with fake information to either hide the sender’s identity or help him launch sneaky attacks like DDoS.
What is IP spoofing used for?
Although IP address spoofing is a tough nut to crack for average Internet users, having a basic understanding about it would allow many to keep their data safe from future IP address spoofing attacks.
Hackers use the notorious technique for a number of nefarious reasons. For instance, an attacker would never want to get caught doing cybercrimes like spamming or scamming. As a result, the attacker would spoof the IP to keep suspicious eyes away from him.
Moreover, as explained above, the technique can be used to orchestrate major attacks like DDoS to target specific systems or infrastructures.
Marek Majkowski gave a detailed overview of a spoof-based attack during a DEFCON event, Packet Hacking Village 2017. While discussing direct attacks, Marek explained that a direct attack occurs, “when the attacker is just transmitting packets directly to us, directly to the target, without any amplification and a reflection in the middle. It’s just packets from the source, the targets, that’s it. “But we cannot trace that attacker because the source IPs are spoofed, so we don’t know who actually originated them, ” he further explained.
That said, did you know that an average DDoS attack can cost companies over $2. 5 million?
Is IP spoofing illegal?
Spoofing by itself isn’t illegal because you may need to fake your IP address to hide your Internet activities and thus enjoy online privacy. However, if someone uses spoofing to pretend to be someone else and as a result indulge in criminal acts such as identity theft, then it is patently illegal.
IP spoofing related incidents
The IP address spoofing technique has aided cybercriminals in causing a great number of attacks. These attacks include Blind Spoofing, Non-Blind Spoofing, Man-in-the-middle attack and the notorious Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
In a survey conducted by the experts at the University of California San Diego, it was found that almost one-third of the Internet was subject to DDoS attacks from March 2015 to February 2017.
In the research, the experts highlighted two major types of Denial of Service attack: Direct and Reflection attacks.
In 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that personnel of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) experienced hacking attempts made on their phones. The members of the forces were deployed near the Russian border, and they claimed that someone attempted to gain access to their iPhone but failed due to an added security layer.
Although the attack seemed to be carried out from Moscow, but the IP or location could have been spoofed to mislead the experts.
In late 2016, Incapsula (a cloud-based application delivery platform) experienced a major DDoS attack which was later termed as LEET. The attack was targeted at anycast IPs of the CDN.
The massive Distributed Denial of Service attack first hit a major 400 Gbps mark and later peaked at 650 Gbps. Like other DDoS attacks, the attacker couldn’t be pinpointed due to IP spoofing which allowed him to mask the source location.
Current state of IP spoofing
Now that we have learned what IP Spoofing is and how it has so far contributed to a number of major attacks, let’s take a quick look at its current state.
The Spoofer project, operated by CAIDA and funded by the US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, can give us a detailed insight into the current state of IP address spoofing around the globe.
The project aims at understanding the various ways IP address spoofing allows cybercriminals to exploit the Internet.
In the following image, you can see the different locations from where the participants ran the test.
The next image shows the regions in the world that are more vulnerable to attacks caused by IP spoofing.
Another insightful chart that shows how many IPs tested during a certain period were spoofable.
How IP spoofing works
The Internet Protocol or IP is used for sending data over a network or the Internet. Since the data is transmitted over the Internet in the form of packets, the IP packets come with a Header that contains different information.
Image Credit:
The source IP address tells the endpoint where the data came from. So, when an IP spoofing attack occurs, the source IP address is masked with a fake or bogus IP address.
How to prevent IP spoofing?
Spoofing attacks can be sneaky and difficult to detect for an average Internet user. But, there are some measures that users can take to prevent spoof-based attacks.
If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, it is best to use a reliable Internet Service Provider. A good ISP uses state-of-the-art infrastructure for not only providing good Internet connection but also mitigating or preventing any Internet attacks.
Secondly, you may want to configure packet filtering on your router to keep malicious or fake IP packets from routing through your network. Through Ingress and Egress filtering you can filter all the inbound or outbound traffic on your router. Go to your router’s official website’s help page to learn how to set packet filtering.
You may also use web encryption protocols like Transport Layer Security (TLS) or HTTPS to encrypt the packets. Consequently, an attacker might be able to access the network, but he won’t be able to modify or change the packets due to encryption
If you have even the slightest hint of a spoofer on your network, you may use spoofing detection tools to detect any attack before it compromises your private information.
How PureVPN can help you protect against IP Spoofing attacks
IP address spoofing requires the attacker to be on the same network as you. More importantly, the attack needs some ideal conditions for it to be executed. For instance, packets must be unencrypted in order to execute an IP spoofing attack.
Here, a VPN such as PureVPN is your best bet as it can help you stay safe from the clutches of a spoof attack through its military-grade encryption.
When you connect to a VPN, your data is transmitted to the ISP through an encrypted tunnel. Everything that goes through the tunnel is protected with 256-bit encryption.
So, even if an attacker plans to spoof your IP packets, he won’t be able to do it without resolving the packets which won’t be possible due to end to end encryption.
IP spoofing FAQs
The following are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about IP spoofing:
What is an IP spoof attack?
Basically, an IP spoof attack is when a hacker outside the network attempts to impersonate a device from within the trusted network by altering the packet headers.
What is spoofing used for?
Spoofing is a method commonly used by hackers and snoopers in order to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information or execute major cyber-attacks such as DDoS.
How would you detect IP spoofing?
Bogon filtering, ingress filtering, egress filtering, and packet filtering are a few effective ways to detect spoofed IP packets and subsequently remove them with minimal collateral damage.
What is a good IP spoofing example?
A distributed-denial-of-service attacker will often use IP spoofing to overwhelm devices and networks with malformed packets that appear from a legitimate source.
What are some IP spoofing tools?
IP spoofing poses a major online threat to individuals and businesses today due to the widespread availability of automated spoofing tools like AntiDetect and FraudFox.
What is anti-spoofing?
To put it simply, anti-spoofing is a method used for detecting and rejecting packets that have a spoofed source address.
Final Words
Now that you know what IP spoofing is, why it is a serious concern and what should you do to stay protected, it would be wise to start implementing what you have learned to prevent falling victim to the different attacks that stem from IP spoofing.
Have you ever been a victim of IP spoofing attack? Or, do you have any tried and tested preventive measure in mind you? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Mohsin Qadir
An information security analyst in the making, a father of an adorable kid and a technology writer (Contributor). He can be found lurking around top network security blogs, looking for scoops on information security and privacy trends.
How to Use a Fake IP Address and Mask Yourself Online
As the notion of privacy gets trampled on with each passing year, online privacy only becomes even more important.
That’s why many people use fake IP addresses. To be clear, “fake IP address” is a bit of a misnomer that implies creating a new one out of thin air. That’s not possible. The best you can do is hide your IP address behind someone else’s already-existing IP address. This is called IP masking. So how do you spoof your IP address?
1. Use a VPN
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, but is much simpler than it sounds. Basically, you can connect your computer or device to someone else’s network, then browse the web through it. Whatever activity you’re doing looks like it’s coming from them, not from you.
When you connect to a VPN, you’re masking your IP address with one of the IP addresses on that network. To trace the traffic back to you, the VPN would have to give you up (or your IP address would have to be revealed via DNS leak).
For best results, use a paid VPN service because free VPNs come with too many risks and downsides. The most important one is that you can never quite trust a free service. Are they selling your data? If asked, would they give up your true IP address? It does happen.
As such, we only recommend using a logless VPN. Such VPNs don’t keep activity logs, so they can’t give up your IP address even if requested. Plus, most logless VPNs encrypt all of your traffic to and from the network, preventing any snooping by ISPs or governments.
VPNs are useful in so many circumstances, but there are too many myths about them that might put you off; you should dispense with misinformation and use a VPN for secure searching.
Which Is the Best VPN For You?
ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are both excellent options. If neither suits you, have a look at our overview of best VPN services. Long story short: whichever service you pick, you just download the app, run it, and use it to connect to the VPN on demand. It’s really that simple.
Use this link for up to 49% off ExpressVPN plans!
2. Use a Web Proxy
A web proxy works in much the same way as a VPN. You connect to the proxy server, then all your web traffic flows through the proxy server. As such, your IP address gets hidden by the proxy server’s IP address.
But there are two major differences between proxy and VPN.
Firstly, web proxies are typically unencrypted. Even if your IP address is masked by a proxy, the traffic itself can still be sniffed by ISPs and governments. Not only that, but some websites may still be able to see your real IP address using JavaScript and the now largely-defunct Flash, which are another set of threats to your online security.
Secondly, some browsers let you route only browser traffic. To use a web proxy, you go into your web browser’s settings and manually input the proxy server’s IP address. This allows applications and devices outside the web browser, like Skype, to still use your actual IP address.
Find a free web proxy using a site like PremProxy or Proxy List. Using a proxy server in your country will keep it fast, but using a proxy server in another country can be useful for bypassing region-blocked content and adding a tiny layer of extra obscurity.
How to Set Up a Web Proxy in Firefox
In the browser, select Preferences from the dropdown menu in the top-left corner.
In the General section, scroll down to Network Settings.
Click on Settings.
Select Manual proxy configuration, then type in the proxy’s address and port in the HTTP Proxy field.
How to Set Up a Web Proxy in Microsoft Edge
On the homepage, click on three dots from the top-left corner.
Select Settings.
Search for proxy in search settings, and selectOpen your computer’s proxy settings.
In the Settings window, toggle the Use a proxy server option, and type in the proxy’s address and port in the Address field.
Click on Save to finalize your proxy setup.
How to Set Up a Web Proxy in Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi
In the main menu, select Settings.
Under Network, click Change proxy settings…
In the Connections tab, click LAN settings.
Enable Use a proxy server for your LAN, then type in the proxy’s address and port in the Address field.
Note: Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi, and other Chromium-based browsers do not have a built-in browser-specific proxy feature. Instead, they only use system-wide proxy settings. However, you can use an extension like Proxy Switcher & Manager to use web proxies that only affect browser traffic.
3. Use Public Wi-Fi
Instead of routing your traffic through another person’s network, you can opt to connect directly to their network—and the easiest way to do this is to hop onto public Wi-Fi.
The funny thing is that this is really the only way to hide your home IP address. When you’re on public Wi-Fi, there’s no way for someone to trace it back to your home. And if it’s a popular hotspot (e. g. Starbucks), your activity will be obscured by dozens of other users at any time.
But remember that public Wi-Fi has its risks.
By default, most public Wi-Fi hotspots are unencrypted. All your activities while connected can be seen by anyone else on the network (if they’re sniffing it out), which includes login details for websites like banks and e-commerce shopping. Public Wi-Fi hotspots can also spread malware infections to your device.
On top of this, there are several other ways for hackers to steal your identity on public Wi-Fi. So while you might be hiding your IP address, you’re still opening yourself up to a whole host of other privacy and security risks.
4. Use Tor Browser
Tor browser, sometimes also called the Onion router, is a free browser that hides your IP address every time you connect to the internet. It does this by connecting you with the Tor network at the start, which transmits your data through random relay servers hosted by worldwide volunteers.
For most people not living in authoritarian countries like China, Venezuela, etc. (where Tor is banned), it’s a handy tool to have in your arsenal of privacy solutions.
To get started, go to the official Tor website and install the browser from there. When the setup is complete, click on Connect. The Tor browser will then link up to the Tor network. This could take a few minutes, so you’ll have to wait a short time.
When it’s done, you’re free to browse the internet anonymously. If you’re using Tor for the first time, though, make sure that you read up on all the online security tips about using Tor efficiently. They are given on the homepage itself!
And That’s How You Can Hide Your IP Address!
Now you know all the different ways you can mask your IP address. If you’re like us, and just can’t accept that “big brother” is prying on you all the time, these tricks will be enough to get started with securing your online anonymity.
Privacy vs. Anonymity vs. Security: Why They Don’t All Mean the Same ThingWhat’s the difference between security, anonymity, and privacy? And when should you prioritize one over another?
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Joel Lee
(1521 Articles Published)
Joel Lee is the Editor in Chief of MakeUseOf since 2018. He has a B. S. in Computer Science and over nine years of professional writing and editing experience.
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Frequently Asked Questions about mock ip address
Can someone mock your IP address?
Your IP address can’t be used to reveal your identity or specific location, nor can it be used to hack into or remotely take control of your computer. … A VPN hides your IP address from all outside users, making it extremely difficult for someone to uncover your IP address or monitor your online activity.Jun 2, 2020
Is it illegal to spoof your IP?
Spoofing by itself isn’t illegal because you may need to fake your IP address to hide your Internet activities and thus enjoy online privacy. However, if someone uses spoofing to pretend to be someone else and as a result indulge in criminal acts such as identity theft, then it is patently illegal.Oct 6, 2021
