Hide Your IP Address
The IP address is what tells other people what your computer is doing. It’s like the address of your home. Everyone knows where you live by your name and address.
If people want to know what you are doing, they can sit outside your home and follow you wherever you go. They could also plant listening devices in your home to see what is going on.
IP addresses work the same way. A bad hacker can break into your computer to put keyloggers (listening device) and they can use Trojans to follow that IP and report back to the virus owner.
How Do People Get My IP Address
Many email programs like Microsoft Outlook send your IP with the mail. So, if you email the wrong person they can easily get the IP address. That is why you should always use web based mail like Yahoo mail.
Every time you go to a web site or search online you are sending your IP address to a lot of people. Web people simply check the cookie tracker and it will reveal your IP to them. Then, they simply add a Trojan tracker to the IP and,Voila, they can see everything you do.
There are many other ways to give out your IP address without knowing it. That is why you need to be careful.
Proxy Servers
A way to hide your IP address is to use a proxy server. Proxy servers mask your IP with another one. Some people recommend connecting to the internet through a Virtual Private Tunnel. Most hardware firewalls have this capability. Then, you do internet searching from the proxy server. Hopefully, you have picked a good company that has a secure server.
A new device is called the Iron Key. It is a thumb drive that connects to the internet through a VPN tunnel and hides your IP with a proxy server.
Check Your IP
Go to a website like IP Chicken and they will show your IP address in seconds. This will let you know if you can be tracked easily by your IP or not.
Dynamic IP
Most homeowners are on a dynamic IP. That means that the IP changes every time you connect to the internet. They may even tell you that it makes it secure.
Think again, the Trojan simply keeps track of what the IP address is changed to. If they actually lose you, they simply do a scan. The subset is so close that it is almost obvious who it is. The problem is that dynamic addresses go by your address and are in a very tight range and that makes losing hacker difficult.
Static IP
A static IP is used by businesses. It means that the IP doesn’t change. It is set. This has the advantage of connecting remotely and things like that. It isn’t really necessary unless you have the need for it.
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