Have you ever visited any website and shared your mobile number email address?? If you do so, then I hope that you might have given your IP addresses to them. IP Address is the most important of how the Internet works, but only a few of us know about it and how it works. When hackers, advertisers, governments, and Internet Service Providers desire to know the activities which you do online, then the only tool they follow is the IP Address. We are going to discuss what are things can Reveal if anyone knows your IP address and how we can be safe from it. Let us get started.
The following are the list of the things an IP address can reveal about you as an individual. Let us examine them one by one
Phone Number and Email Address
Most of us use phone numbers and email addresses while logging in to websites, which may make the hackers get to know more about you.
A phone number(mobile/landline) possibly used to collect more and more information about an individual such as:-
- With the help of the reverse lookup tools such as https://techieplus.net/ name and address associated with that phone number can be revealed.
- Domain registration records and Internet domain associated with your mobile number can be used.
- Information can also be collected if you are using open-source searches, public internet activity, or any document that is accessible by the public, which includes your personal information such as your mobile number, financial or medical records, discussion forums, and blog posts.
Similar to phone numbers, email addresses also provide more information about individuals, let us have a look over it.
- Domain registered with the email address.
- Name used by most of us on the Internet.
- Some services use an email address for registration (Linkedin, a place where email addresses are required to log in)
- Internet activities or documents which include email address and that is subsequently indexed by search engines.
Geolocation
Your IP address can also reveal geolocation like your city, region, and the country through which you connected. It also provides some information regarding your ISP and hostname. The data which you have used to perform online activities can be combined to get a digital profile.
Note:- The details(accuracy) about the ISP and hostname depend on the IP address lookup tool which you are using.
Browsing History
Most of us already know that ISP can see the list of the websites which you have visited and the services used. In a few countries like the UK and Australia, ISP’s are used to collect and store the metadata of the users for a defined period.
If an ISP serves as a subpoena by the government or a company, then they have to reveal the personal information of the user, which includes name, phone number, credit card details, phone number, physical address, and many more.
Your IP address can also provide an approximate location of where you are at a given time by having a look at the activities that you have performed that are associated with your IP address.
IP address functionality
An IP address allows the searchers to get to know more information about your network, service, or device. Let us have a look over them in a specific manner.
- It tells who owns and operates a network. Searching the WHOIS database using an IP address gives more information about the individual (it also reveals organization information) or the organization through which the address is assigned that includes the name, address, and the civic address.
- By performing a reverse lookup, they can get the name of the computer, which contains clues to a physical and logical location.
- By surfing through the Internet through your IP address like 192.168.1.1, and the computer reveals more information about Peer to Peer activities, records in web-server log files, glimpses of the activities (visiting sites like Wikipedia and many more). These bits of the individual online activities reveal their political inclination, health status, sexuality, religious sentiments, personal interests, and many more,
Ad Preferences
Do you like to watch advertisements?? If you do so, then I hope that you might be knowing the fact that advertisers get to know your IP address within just a few clicks. Advertisers might also use IP targeting techniques to get to know your IP address from a particular list.
These are the five things that an IP address can reveal about, now let us look how we can protect ourselves and our IP address and be safe.
How We Can Be Safe From IP Address??
If you search for how you can be safe from an IP address, then I hope that you will encounter various ways to do so. The best and the most effective is through the Virtual Private Network (VPN). Some of the common ways to be followed are:-
Opt for the Personal VPN
There are many advantages of using a personal VPN such as high-speed bandwidth, usability, secure connection, an option to choose the country and city where you are, and many more.
Use the Tor Browser
The Tor Browser (such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) is a software program that you can download on your computer. The best part of this browser is that it conceals your IP address every time you go online anonymously. This part has layered with heavy-duty encryption, which defines that your data layered with security and privacy protection.
Use Public/ Free Wi-Fi
Have you ever visited a coffee shop, restaurant, book store, or a hotel?? If you do so, then I hope that they will provide free Wi-Fi through which you can get access to the Internet. You can temporarily hide your IP address with the help of the public Wi-Fi as their IP addresses will be connected.
These are some of the few ways in which you can be safe from IP addresses. We advise all internet users not to share their personal details while browsing. Browse safely and stay safe.
