IP address/public forum

[SurreyGuy]

If I'm using a works PC to post on a public forum (yes, work DO know before anyone berates me!), what info pertaining to my location can the administrators of the forum glean from my IP address? Will they simply be able to find out which country I'm in or can they narrow my location down further?

Also, will all the PCs in our company have the same IP address?

[ChuckFickens]

They would probably be able to narrow you down to at least a city sized area. but try for your self

http://www.ip2location.com/

the chances are that all your company PC's will have the same public IP address (i.e. they will all connect to the internet through a single gateway)

[Ethel]

If all the pcs are using the same network, yes.

http://www.ipdetails.org/

[SurreyGuy]

Thanks folks.

I'm presuming that both of the links you guys mention automatically recognise my IP address?

ChuckFickens - COOL! :o) That showed up the name/address of our German office, so our internet must be routed/served from there?

Ethel - also COOL! But that one showed the address of our office in the USA!

[ACtheTROLL]

la la la la la - I'm in bradford - this cunning site shows me as being in Manchester (at the moment) (30 is miles out)

that's on a bt dynamic feed

with fixed IP of course
http://www.demon.net/external/
will pin you down to the address of the registered owner

you are almost certainly running a dhcp server - so the ip address of the company (wan) - and yours (lan) will be different

but your mac address - which has to be included in the packets - Identifies your machine
so I could probably meet you in the carpark tonight if I had your IP address and was pressed.

however - mac addresses aren't registered to users - so the ip address links to customer - and then an internal search finds the actual machine.

generally this last step would only be available to the police (or security services) - as would the internet records (kept 3 years) held by your ISP

to put it into perspective
about 6 months ago a letter arrived demanding either �600 by the end of the month - or a day in court at a friend's house
The letter included the ip address (which had changed by then) and the mac address (which matched)

He rang me for advice - suspecting a scam
the solicitors is a huge firm in the city - (he works just round the corner) he visited the firm - was assured that it was kosher - and payed his �600
later in one of the local papers he saw that prosecutions were ongoing and (fines were in the area of �12000).

[SurreyGuy]

Thanks - although bing the technophobe I am, a lot of what you said was "lost" on me! :o)

So, how do website forum administrators or recipients of e-mails "find out" the senders/posters IP address?

[Ethel]

You look at the email headers. It is amazing what you can find there.

http://antivirus.about.com/od/windowsbasics/a/ emailheaders.htm

http://www.emailaddressmanager.com/tips/header .html

I have had emails from two different users on this site - one very abusive, the other very friendly and sympathetic, criticising a third user. I knew it was the same person because the headers told me so,

[Ethel]

Ac- what had this naughty person been doing?

[SurreyGuy]

I'm lost - sorry.

If I'm posting on a forum, surely there won't be an e-mail header?

[Ethel]

You asked how recipients of emails find out the sender's IP address.

I've told you, and now I'm puzzled as to why you are lost.

[Ethel]

As for forums, the forum administrator (in this case the Ed) can see much more than we can - he can certainly see the IP addresses.

[ACtheTROLL]

Ethel
It was mainly films and music - (you know how young people are about torrents and lime wire and ....!)
but some software as well

The prosecution details didn't actually name a "mastermind" for the legal action - but we suspect that the company name probably rhymes with pony ;0

He was bang to rights - the ip address obviously changed often - but the mac was spot on - I'm not certain what the position is with private companies accessing the ISP records - but obviously they did - and had the time and ability to scan for the info they needed.

The summons was addressed to my chum - not his son.

it was lucky he didn't try to bluff his way through

[wonkon-wonk]

i bet you aint gonna tell us the user Ethel but does the weird scitso coward still use the site?

[SurreyGuy]

Ethel, I was just gonna explain the query in yr 15:37 message when I read yr 15:40 one. Both "parts" of my "how do the.............." question have now been answered.

Thanks

[Ethel]

Yes, wonk

He is obviously not tech-savvy.

Thanks for that, Ac.

[ACtheTROLL]

just to cap it off

our boy did the usual things kids do - sites various - methods various

with server software logs are plentiful - and all the info is there
basic network - you send request - you (hopefully) get a reply - and the routing info is attached.

(it would be like asking someone to ring you back without giving your number (caller ID!)

if anyone is particularly bothered
Who's using your LAN
http://www.depicus.com/wake-on-lan/wake-on-lan -arp.aspx

what software does AB use?
http://www.depicus.com/interweb/what-web-serve r.aspx


who is your machine actually talking to?
http://www.networkactiv.com/PIAFCTM.html
it has an excellent graphical traffic display option - you can see all the check for new versions talking to home base

[rojash]

"what software does AB use? "
Confirms my suspicions - no wonder it's always falling over!

[SurreyGuy]

I'm now home and have just tried the two links that CF and Ethel posted (at the top) and CF's shows me as being in London (and quotes a longitude and latitude reference) and Ethel's shows me as being in the UK.