Imagine someone peeking through your digital window, silently following your tracks on the internet, observing every website you visit, looking into every online transaction you make and every message you send. Your IP address is your digital footprint that can be tracked and used as a gateway for prying eyes and malicious actors. But what can someone do with your IP? Hackers can exploit your IP to track your online behavior, but that’s not all. A lot more can be done if your IP address gets leaked.
1. Tracking Online Activities
Your IP address can be used to determine your general geographical location while being more accurately drawn to your city or neighborhood. Websites and services can use this geolocation to provide customized ads and results based on your location, providing you with more relevant ads.
According to a study by Norton, up to 79% of websites track user data to improve their experience and deliver targeted advertising. This geolocation can be very useful for businesses that use targeted advertising but can pose several privacy concerns to the users.
Moreover, your browsing history can also be tracked via your IP address, allowing websites to monitor the pages you visit, how long you stay, and what actions you take. Tools like Google Analytics use this data to provide useful insights into user behavior, which can be later used for personalized advertising or sold to advertisers. This information can benefit businesses but raises severe privacy concerns for users, making it essential to use protective measures like VPNs and privacy-focused browsers like Onion or Tor.
2. Targeted Advertising
Companies can use your leaked IP address to customize ads based on your online behavior and browsing habits. For instance, if your IP address shows you are in New York, you will see ads for local services and events in NYC. This technique is widely used by marketers worldwide who rely on localized advertising strategies.
Your IP address can also help advertisers build a detailed user profile to serve you with personalized ads. These ads are customized based on your previous online activities, like products you viewed or the websites you visited, making users more likely to purchase or click on them. This practice raises severe privacy concerns, including analysis of user behavior and extensive data collection.
3. Service Restrictions
Do you ever wonder how Netflix and other streaming platforms provide personalized content according to your location or how Hulu only works in Canada? Well, that also happens through your IP address. These companies must comply with regional licensing agreements to ensure the content is only available in specific regions. They track your geographic location using your IP address to provide you with content that’s supposed to be available for viewership in that region.
Access limits also come into play, where services restrict or permit access based on your IP address. This can include limiting access to certain online services or websites, like government sites or banking services, to users from specific regions for security and regulatory compliance. For instance, some websites might only allow access to users from within a particular country to protect against fraud or unauthorized access.
4. Cyberattacks
Your IP address can also be used for cyberattacks that can result in severe disruption through DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks or hacking attempts. DDoS attacks overwhelm networks with excessive traffic, causing service outages. These attacks increased to 175% yearly, with peak traffic volumes maxing up to 800 GBPS. Such DDoS attacks damage users’ reputations and cause financial losses.
Hacking attempts exploit your IP address to gain unauthorized access to your unsecured devices. With Internet of Things (IoT) devices expected to hit 25.4 billion in the US by 2030, many remain vulnerable due to weak security settings. These IoT devices can easily be hacked for data theft and more cyberattacks. This can be prevented by regularly updating your systems and using strong passwords or strong security measures like firewalls and VPNs.
5. Impersonation
Impersonation or IP spoofing is another example of what someone can do with your IP address. IP spoofing is a process where cyber attackers or hackers conceal their IP addresses and use their IP address to use it for illegal activities. This technique launches malicious attacks like DDoS and bypasses security measures.
Around 30,000 IP spoofing attacks occur daily, affecting millions of unique IP addresses worldwide. These attacks manipulate network traffic and perform actions like unauthorized access and identity theft, posing a significant threat to the user whose IP is used in a malicious attack.
6. Security Breaches
Your IP address may be used by cybercriminals to break security, resulting in data loss and system compromise. One technique is IP surveillance, in which cybercriminals search for open ports and network weaknesses to infiltrate systems and install malware. Cybercrime cost UK firms £15,300 on average per incident in 2023, and major organizations were the targets.
Furthermore, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which flood networks with traffic and disrupt them, can be launched using IP addresses. The number of these assaults has significantly increased, frequently using IP spoofing to conceal the attack’s origin. According to the Norton Site and F5, Inc., the average data breach cost in the United States in 2023 was $9.48 million.
Strong security measures like firewalls, VPNs, and frequent upgrades are necessary to reduce these dangers.
7. Surveillance
Government organizations and Internet service providers (ISPs) often use IP addresses to track online activity, which raises serious privacy issues. Programs like the NSA’s PRISM and Upstream, for example, gather enormous amounts of data from foreign communications and US tech businesses; millions of Americans are unintentionally caught up in this monitoring net. In 2021, the NSA disclosed information on over 232,432 targets; nevertheless, it is quite likely that over a billion conversations are impacted yearly.
ISPs also save user information, such as email and browser history, which may be utilized for several things, such as responding to government demands for monitoring or displaying tailored advertising. In addition to jeopardizing privacy, this widespread surveillance also affects civil rights, especially for underprivileged people who are disproportionately affected by these activities (OHCHR; Brennan Center for Justice).
8. Scams and Phishing
Cybercriminals can use the data they get from your IP usage patterns to create phishing attacks that are highly customized. Attackers can produce more convincing targeted phishing emails by studying your online activity, including the websites and services you use. 2023 was the worst year for phishing attacks due to a sharp increase in incidences, with around 5 million recorded cases.
These tailored phishing attempts frequently use well-known companies and services to dupe consumers. For example, attackers may imitate logos and designs from prominent organizations such as Microsoft or Google to trick people into opening harmful links.
9. Fraud
Subscription fraud, in which fraudsters exploit your IP address to establish phony accounts or sign up for services using your name, is a serious threat to businesses and customers. This fraud includes gaining illegal access to subscription services by utilizing stolen or phony identities. Subscription fraud increased dramatically in 2023, accounting for a significant share of the $38.95 billion lost to telecoms fraud globally.
Fraudsters can use your IP address to establish many phony accounts, frequently using free trials and promotional offers without meaning to pay. This not only costs businesses money, but it also impacts the quality of service provided to real customers.
Detecting fraud is challenging due to several approaches to prevent detection, such as utilizing numerous email addresses and payment methods.
10. Reputation Damage
Using your IP address to conduct malicious activities can damage your online reputation. Cybercriminals may use your IP address to engage in unlawful activities such as sending spam or phishing emails, resulting in your IP being blacklisted on numerous sites. This impairs your communication talents and undermines your reputation and reliability online. According to Cisco Talos, being affiliated with phishing or spam operations might result in your IP address being reported, severely impacting your interactions and online visibility.
The consequences of such behaviors are severe. Negative internet information or reviews can turn off potential consumers and harm corporate reputations. Studies show that 86% of consumers are less inclined to pick a business with unfavorable evaluations, and firms with even one negative post online risk losing up to 20% of prospective customers.
How to Prevent Your IP Address From Getting Leaked?
Prevention measures are crucial for protecting your network and IP address from various attacks. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) successfully covers your IP address by encrypting and routing your internet traffic through a secure server, improving privacy and security. This stops hostile actors from monitoring your activity and executing IP-based attacks. Regularly upgrading devices and software closes security gaps that fraudsters use to obtain unauthorized access.
In addition to VPNs and upgrades, effective network security measures are required. Implementing firewalls, utilizing strong and unique passwords, and activating two-factor authentication (2FA) will dramatically improve your defenses against illegal access and cyberattacks. These procedures protect your personal information and improve your online reputation and digital security. Being proactive and diligent can help safeguard your network from the many threats involved with IP address abuse.