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What is My IP Address?
Your IP Address is your digital Identity and reveals important information about you.
What is an IP Address?
An Internet Protocol address, more commonly known as an IP address is a unique identity assigned to every device or computer that connects to the internet. IPs that connect directly to the internet are called Public IPs.
IPv4 vs. IPv6 addresses
The internet hosts two versions of Internet Protocol addresses, IP Version 4 (IPv4) and IP Version 6 (IPv6). Their purpose is to facilitate communication over the internet by identifying devices from the other and addressing devices’ location.
Probably the most noticeable difference between IPv4 and IPv6 is the number of addresses. While IPv4, invented in the 1970s, uses 32 bits, it only allows for about 4 billion addresses. On the other hand, IPv6 was introduced in 1995 to make sure that the internet world doesn’t run out of IP address. IPv6 uses 128 bits, which translates to 3.4 x 1038 possible addresses.
Every internet user needs a public IP to connect to the internet. Usually, the public IP is provided by a user's Internet Service Provider (ISP), which allows the user to connect to the internet.
How to Check if Your VPN is Working & not Leaking Your IP Address?
Note: Please Disconnect your VPN first if you are connected to one and then reload the page.
- Note down the IP Address mentioned above
- Now, connect to the VPN on your device
- Then, click here to check your IP address again
Note: If your IP Address remains same, hence your VPN is leaking your IP Address.
What Your IP Address Can Reveal About You And your Online Activities
An IP address is your digital identity. Think of it as your online passport. Your IP address hosts detailed information regarding your location, which poses a significant risk if your IP isn’t secured. Here’s what your IP knows:
- The city from where you’re trying to access a site online
- Your country of residence
- The state/province you’re living in
- The ZIP/postal code where you live
As you visit websites over the internet, more and more information is gathered about you. Websites use your IP address and other information such as metadata, cookies, and trackers to build a profile about you. Website owners, marketers, and advertisers use this information to target you with ads.
Websites will get clear access to your actual physical location, the websites you visit, your interests, what you download, who you communicate with, and so much more. You can think of them as data gathering machines who retain your data for their personal gains.
Websites is one thing, ISPs know way too much about you. Since you’re their customer, an Internet Service Provider knows your name, address, phone number, credit card number, bank account details, credit history, and potentially even more.
Moreover, numerous countries in Europe and North America are required by law to retain logs of users browsing activities without issuing them a warrant and hand their data over to government agencies when they ask for it. Also, if you’re using a website that isn’t HTTPS-secured, you are susceptible to online attacks as you’re not secured with AES 256-bit encryption.
What is a Private IP?
Private networks like the ones at schools, offices, universities, homes etc. use private IP addresses to communicate with other devices connected to the same private network. These devices do not connect directly to the internet, but first connect to the server of the network, and the server then connects to the internet.
Private IPs are usually assigned by servers used to establish a private network.
Learn more about What is Private IP Address?
Public vs. Private IP addresses
Private IP addresses are usually used by private networks to identify and share data between computers and devices (for e.g. printers) that are directly connected with one another and not with the internet.
Your computer or any other device has a unique private IP address that can be used for communication purpose with ease other. But nothing outside the local network can identify or connect with these devices.
Your router can assign private IP address to all devices connected to your home network via the DHCP protocol.
Why you need a Private IP?
A private IP address is needed by a user who wants to be anonymous, secure and private on the internet. Private IPs guarantee complete internet freedom as you can access whatever you want on the internet. Online anonymity and security also save you from hackers and surveillance agencies.
Private IPs are not bought or sold. Companies like PureVPN reserve a pool of private IPs for themselves, which in turn allows their users to connect to the internet. Subscribing to PureVPN will give you access to more than 300,000 IP addresses that are available in the immense IP pool of PureVPN.
IP Address
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