What if someone gets to know it, or a hacker deliberately steals it? That might create a problem for you. The IP address reveals all your private information like location, buying behavior, browsing history, and search patterns. Your IP address can be used for unethical activities and to disrupt your internet identity.
This guide explains what hackers and surveillance agencies can do with your real IP address.
What can a hacker do with an IP address?
Internet service providers have set a unique number for the identification, which acts as the online address. Cyber crimes are at their peak these days, and one of the significant threats to internet users is IP hacking. Knowing what an intruder can do if your IP is revealed to him is essential.
Know your geographical location
You might only be happy if someone keeps an eye on your location with your consent. If your location is revealed to someone, there is a risk of home crimes, theft, and harassment.
Discover Personal Identification Information
Internet thieves always search for your PII (personally identifiable information). They steal your security numbers and email addresses and impersonate you. This can also lead to phishing attacks, one of the most occurring crimes nowadays.
Make you a criminal
Hackers can use your IP for illegal acts like drug dealing, money laundering, launching terrorist activities, and many more.
Sending spam
While tracking your IP address, hackers might leak your data to others. This can make your information to the people for targeted marketing.
Launch DDoS attack
Hackers launch DOS or DDoS attacks on your system to prevent the correct audience from reaching your servers. This harms the business and might cause a loss in sales and customer reliability.
Man-in-the-middle attacks
If the user and the hacker share the same LAN, the hacker could target the users and act as a man in the middle to communicate for fraud.
Best ways hackers use to get hold of your IP
Hackers are brilliant human beings and have exceptional brains used in harmful things. Although they have many tactics to reach your IP, some of the standard techniques are:
- Making you click on any link
- Ask you to share your device for a second
- Asking you to send an email
- By hacking your router or web server
- Urging you to participate in online forums or polls
- Through free proxies or VPNs
- Through social media
How to find a hacker’s IP address
Finding the hacker’s IP address is very difficult and near impossible. But there are specific commands in Linux, Google Analytics tools, and many others that can help identify a hacker’s IP address. Here are some methods to do so:
Tracert Command
- Open a command prompt.
- In the command prompt window, type ‘tracert’ followed by the destination, either an IP Address or a domain name, and press enter.
- The command will return output indicating the hops discovered and the time (in milliseconds) for each hop.
Google Analytics
You can create an alert to prevent hacking activity through Google. Here’s how:
- Log in to the Google Analytics profile
- Select “Intelligence” from the left navigation.
- Select “Create Custom Alert.”
- Enter an Alert name such as “Hacking Monitor.”
- Select Period
- Check Receive Email Alert
We can have our take to catch the hacker, but we sometimes forget that hackers are criminal minds that think exceptionally. Hacking attacks are typically performed through IP addresses that connect to different servers worldwide.
Hackers try to make things complex so that they are challenging to catch. They create chained attacks and have foolproof connections to help them prevent the hassle of being caught.
Law enforcement agencies can track IP with authentic information when there are many scams like government Imposter Scams, but they will only do that for you and me sometimes. So, the idea is to prevent hacker attempts rather than find them after being hacked.
How to protect your IP address
There are some methods to protect your IP from unknown attacks:
Taking help from ISP
Internet service providers can assign you dynamic IP addresses that will change several times, making it difficult for the hacker to launch any attack.
Update your firewall
It is always necessary to update your firewall and its password to prevent security risks.
Use a proxy server
Authentic proxy servers can also hide your IP when using the internet.
Use Tor
It is a browser known to provide browsing with anonymity; although it was also hacked once, it is said to recover.
Use a VPN
A (VPN) Virtual Private Network can provide quick access to all platforms by hiding your IP address. PureVPN guarantees security while you are browsing, streaming, or browsing the internet.
Frequently asked questions
Should I be worried if someone has my IP address?
If a person with your IP address seems harmless, then it’s fine. If you doubt, you can change your IP address by restarting your router.
What information can someone get with my IP address?
With an IP address, it is possible to know your location. Hackers can get to know many other things like browsing history and personal information.
Can someone find me through my IP address?
The IP address reveals your geo-location, including your city and region.
What do I do if someone has my IP address?
If someone has your IP address, it is advisable to change it instantly. You can do that by restraining your browser. After that, it is always better to use a VPN to hide your IP address.
Can you track a hacker’s IP address?
There are some ways to know a hacker’s IP address, but you need to be sure of them, as hackers have a skill set that is difficult to catch.
Can Google Analytics track IP addresses?
No, Google Analytics never tracks IP addresses, but it can create an alert to protect your IP against intruders.
Can you tell if your IP address has been hacked?
You can tell if your IP address has been hacked by looking at your device’s activities. Certain pop-ups might appear, and the anti-virus can stop on its own.
PureVPN
June 20, 2023
11 months ago
