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In this day of viruses and hackers damaging computers,stealing files and credit card info why does this forum display the posters IP Adress?

 

Overburdened, underpaid, and/or lazy, SA. Of course,: my opinion.

 

I thot it was to identify and therefore be able to block unruly posters on the forums.

Just my reasoning.

Kay

 

That's exactly what it was for kaybyrd. A buddy once explained it to me in a way that a hillbilly can understand, there are people out here that are not happy until you are unhappy. Then there are the redneck types like me that trust in Smith and Wesson and his six big brothers so those type of people usually avoid me If you are on a dialup connection you will get a different or Dynamic IP address every time you log on. Those on cable modems have a permanent or static address. Those on DSL get dynamic IP's but they can appear static if you don’t reset your modem. I have had the same IP for weeks now because I do not turn off my modem. Don’t trust em... got a good connect that I am happy with on DSL so never shut it off, the router keeps it alive. I know this is silly but we all have our little quirks we live by...

 

Kaybird, Bigmike, do you really believe that SAs and/or the WM lack access to system logs or that the logs could not be accessed via login. Granted more time is required to access the logs..., but the point is valid: publishing IPs is crude at best. [Not that real hackers require forum help]. As a matter of fact publishing IPs is obnoxious. [Do, name a major site that indulges the practice].

Still, I think there is some truth that the SAs are overburdened and likely underpaid, and that publishing IPs is an accommodation for them, even though it may penalize [especially those with static IPs...] by inviting a budding hacker.

It's absurd that public display of IPs is a requisite. Accommodation maybe.

 

I still don't get publishing the IP. Most people still use dialups so the IP changes. Also, most colleges, schools, government offices, and businesses use Network Address Translation so they get new IPs every visit. Even the cable companies are looking at NAT to solve their security problems. Plus, anyone who wants to cause problems can probably get new IPs. As for blocking, why can't the webserver take care of that?

On the other hand, anyone with a static map or hangs onto an IP for a long time had better have a firewall. You leave your IP address at every website you visit and almost all webservers log IPs. Your only protection from hackers is to set your firewall for http, rtsp and ftp traffic only and if you need another protocal turn it off for just the time your using it.

 

I'm sure if someone out there really wanted to know your IP address they could find it anyway. A good firewall is the answer, running in stealth mode (like I do) is wonderful. Makes my system appear non-existent when pinged.

This I learned from this site as well. If you need a good firewall from www.zonelabs.com is a great one.

Kay

 

Ok the DIY gods turned off the IP logging feature. Really though we shouldn’t pick on the guys, gals at DIY. They are few in number and if anyone pays attention to the papers etc you will know that dot coms are failing at an alarming rate. Yea I’m sticking up for DIY and I am sure that if this forum should die there would be another one to take its place but I like this forum and not because I’m a moderator, I may have to give that up for work. Thinking about spending the $80K and buying my own truck and live on the road, see the USA and Canada my way. Still I say thank you Bob, Brandon etc for the forum…

 

Most hackers don't come to these sites looing for an ip address, they mostly will scan the network looking for open ports, then they attempt to attack those ports, I use PC-Cillin 2002 and it logs all attempted attacks, I see this daily in the logs, and they never had to log on here to find me, best defense is a firewall.

You won't beleave how many times your system comes under an attack, want to know when an attack takes place on your system

Visit http://www.antivirus.com/download/

Try out there 30 day trial offer.

 

I’m curious, for those of you that have put up a firewall and say that you see someone trying to get in to your computer, what IP address are you seeing? If you are on a router you are seeing the routers keep alive feature pinging your computer. I am on DSL, Cable before that. I run a little utility that sniffs out IP requests to mine or anything on network or even the net itself. In all the time I have been on dialup first, and then cable now DSL I have never once seen anyone try to access any port on my computer. Hackers aren’t interested in Joe public’s computer. They are after the big boys to get credit card info etc. But for those of you that have mentioned you have seen someone try to access your ports, could you email me the IP addresses that you captured. By the way I went and bought the Zone Alarm firewall, nifty program but in the last 48 hours or so have not had a single computer try to access me. I even left my IP being broadcast as a game server and never had a single hit. Thanks for the info…

 

Mike, I will reload PC-Cillin and get some screen shots and show you what goes on, I removed it due to it would not allow the shared dialup work on the home network, but give me some time an I'll take and post a few screen shots here for you.

 

Cool, no hurry, at your leisure. you should try the Zone Alarm software, or did you recomend it? Will have to look back in the post. Anyway it will allow LAN/WAN and shared connections...

 

Mike here is that screen shot.



As you can see it shows last attack type and where the source was from.

 

No reason to assume that submissions would be accurate. Granted the binary gang, [in contrast to a nuance hacker], may use Joe Blow as a stepping stone and have little inerest in the content of the computer. Just guessing, but the trogan posted by "ddog65" may have been such a case. [Dropped cookies... hummm.... Dinking with it is one way to find out].

Also granted the binary gang probably would spit on using a forum or using ready made hacking software to seek victims. Known launch pads exist. Anyone who really wants to can find them. As for myself, I choose to stand clear and leave war games to the elite.

Removing temptation is not directed toward the apt, but at the inept. Contribuitng to or encouraging the learning process..., and you do that because you're cognizant.

 

Mike,

After removing PC-Cillin I went to this site http://scan.sygatetech.com and had a free security scan, there are a few test there, and I passed all the test, they try to scan your computer ports and give you a report if there open or blocked, all test showed ports were blocked. So check out that site.

 

I went to the site and with ZoneAlarm loaded all they could determine is my IP address, nothing else. When I disabled ZoneAlarm all it discovered is my browser and operating system.

Kay

Ps. I don't know what my actual IP address is on my system or how to find it out. I am using a cable modem....

K.

 

Kaybyrd, whatever showed at the test site is what your IP address is. Now, I had ZoneAlarm running and did the stealth test at Sygate. Said I was in total stealth mode except for my IP address. Next I shut down zone and ran the test again, same results. Next I completely uninstalled zone down to the registry and rebooted and ran the tests again. Same results, said I was in complete stealth mode except for IP. So, this time I shut down my DSL modem and Linksys router for a few minutes and then brought everything back on line and tested with Sygate again. Again same results showed I was in stealth mode except for my IP address BUT this time my address had changed as I expected. A Trace route of these two IP addresses comes back to SBC’s computers as well as Ping and “Who Is”. So I guess that the DSL is blocked from net eyes? I am going to try to check this out a bit further, Zone Alarm only gave me one warning that my computer was being pinged and said it blocked it but with other testing the same results were seen.

 

Plumber2000, that site is GREAT!!!

i was open on ports 80 & 113, but when i shut them down, we couldn't browse . . . port 80 must be open for browsing the internet??

i'm relatively new to networking, but i'm slowly getting the hang of it.

we've got a SMC Barricade router and BlackICE on both machines, and it seems like we're doing just fine with it.

still a little worried about ports 80 & 113, can anyone give me more details on those??

thanks in advance!!!

 

FYI, my DSL line went down Thursday night about 10PM. I crashed and when I got up Friday morning it was still down so I called SBC. They said they had performed maintenance on the switch and RT and in the process burnt up a card in the switch. Anyway I had to stick a modem in the beast to get mail etc. For S&G I went to Sygate again and ran a test of security. I was wide open to the net, every port was open UDP, TCP, IP everything. Fired up Zone Alarm Pro and closed everything up. So you folks on dialup just might want to check your system for leaks! Yes port 80 is for surfing so it has to be open but attacks rarely come thru port 80. I bought ZP Pro and think its well worth the $49 but I am sure there are others out there just as good. Flip a coin etc. My guru and I both agree that hackers etc aren’t really looking for us, they are after MS, Bell, AOL’s servers etc. But it never hurts to have a little security running…

 

Kaybird- to check what IP you are being assigned open a dos window (95/98) or a cmd window (nt/2000= run cmd.exe) and type winipcfg for win95/98 and ipconfig for nt/2000.

arthropod- ident 113/tcp
auth 113/tcp Authentication Service
auth 113/udp Authentication Service

For a complete listing of ports (tcp,udp) you can see the 49000+ here: http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers. Most of them are inactive and need to be activated by a program.
Dont quote me on this, but If you do not have an email client installed I dont think ports 110 (pop) or 25 (smtp) are enabled.


OK, now I will get attacted today because I have never been probed, hacked, or even infected and I go to some pretty unmentionable sites. No I am not a hacker, don't have the time, ambition or the brains to learn everything that is needed for even the most basic attacks. But I do like to know what porgrams are vulnerable to attack and why, even if I don't fully understand what they are talking about. These sites are good for deciding what virus software or Firewalls to get. Most "securty" sites will tell you what holes they have found, and their weaknesses.

Brian

Brian

 

Hello Everyone & All Forum Topic Readers

IP Addresses on this site are logged in an attempt to discourge unscrupulous posters from posting unwarranted replies. Visualizing the IP address advises everyone that you cannot post totally anonymously.

Non visually logging but still logging the IP Address has basically the same effect. Although this method and system may appear to be obsolete, it does have several benefits and is cost effective.

Malicious persons can be tracted, traced, warned and blocked, if warranted. In severe cases or continued instances, their ISP is notified. Working together between web site owners, their servers, the ISP of the offending party, etc. the offending person can be punished by having their ISP service with-drawn by the provider, etc.

Disclaimer Note:
The above information was obtained by personal phone conversions with the web site owner and administrators to the best of my recollections of those conversions.

On the topic of internet security, be advised that most if not all software providers software makes irreversible changes to the computers critical files. Uninstalling them totally, meaning not leaving the important files intactin most cases, may render the computer unuseable.

This fact was made aware to me by a friendly & knowledgeable ISP tech. Total removal of ZoneAlarm has caused this problem to many computers. Re-installation of the entire operating system was the only method that restored computer useage, in every case the techs are aware of. Be warned and be aware!

This happened to me too. However, I did not remove zonealarm. I rendered it non useable by unchecking the startup in msconfig. Doing so allowed the outlook email operation to begin functioning correctly but without the internet security function.

The problem developed when I upgraded to email virus scanning software. The problem was discovered in the DOS testing system. Between the ZoneAlarms email safe software and that similar function contained within the Symantecs virus scanning software caused major conflicts.

Turning off the email scanning in the virus software did not resolve that issue. After hours of testing, changing settings, etc. there was no resolve to the issue in either software.

Therefore, in my opinion, it is not possible to have the best of both worlds. Enabling or disabling either created a compromise I was not willing to put up with or except.

Using my trusty, reliable, old and obsolete Norton Uninstall software, I uninstalled the Symantecs Internet security. After doing so, the computer then did not allow me to receive emails nor access the internet...period.

Sytematically, re- installing only parts of this software proved to be worthless. It either functions in total or not at all, based upon my experiences. Totally reinstalling, as it is currently operating, was the only final solution. Same situation with ZoneAlarm.

On the topic of hackers, it is true that knowledgeable experienced hackers are not interested in personal computers. hacking into them is both boring and a waste of time. Hackers prefer to notch their belts at the expense of major computers, servers, routers etc.

Individual personal computers are not valuable to experienced hackers. Only to those persons whom want to use your machine to spread viruses etc.

And there you have it folks...."My 2 Pennies Worth!"

Regards,
Forum Host & Moderator
Tom_B