finding my ip address

[chesty]

Can someone find my ip address I am currently using and tell me? I need to see if my firewall is working. I tried one of those ip address sites and it gives the actual ipaddress I'm guessing because I requested it from my computer that I am on.

Anyway can some one do that for me?

 

[drrman]

www.whatismyip.com

or if you are wanting your private IP address that your router is handing out via DHCP then hit start, run, type CMD


then type IPCONFIG at the prompt

 

[drrman]

not sure what you are trying to accomplish.....reading your post again

a firewall will not block a site from reading your IP address if that is what you are after

 

[chesty]

I was told by my internet provider that anyone coming from the outside would only see my router ip, they would not be able to see the ip that they are providing to me that comes into my router.

I had an old account of mine on a website reopened and some charges and other shit take place. I was hoping that when they give me the ip address I could find out where it came from. But they told me 1. If someone hacked my computer that because of my router they would only have that address 2. They also said that becuase they use dynamic ips they will have no record of where that ip address was being sent to specifically except to say what geographical area it is from.

I was hoping to show that it did not come from my computer or appear to.

 

[drrman]

I was told by my internet provider that anyone coming from the outside would only see my router ip, they would not be able to see the ip that they are providing to me that comes into my router.

I had an old account of mine on a website reopened and some charges and other shit take place. I was hoping that when they give me the ip address I could find out where it came from. But they told me 1. If someone hacked my computer that because of my router they would only have that address 2. They also said that becuase they use dynamic ips they will have no record of where that ip address was being sent to specifically except to say what geographical area it is from.

I was hoping to show that it did not come from my computer or appear to.

well bro, someone you were talking to obviously wasn't very intelligent. here is what happens, your router is your gateway to the internet. Your router received a IP address from your ISP, its static as long as your router doesn't release it......but in reality its a dynamic IP handed out by the servers at the ISP. Your router then hands out private IP address via DHCP, these are the address of anything connected to that router on your private network range, example is this

most routers front end address will be 192.168.1.1

the router will hand out 192.168.1.2 to the first device that connect to it, these are your private or internal IP addresses behind that router.....when your computer with the private ip 192.168.1.2 accesses anything on the internet it goes to the gateway(router) and goes out on your "real" ip address which is unique and a NON private address

so your router does act as a firewall yes, but it will not block a site from resolving your IP address

 

[drrman]

and another thing, yes the ISP's hand out IP addresses dynamically but each ISP is assigned a RANGE of ip addresses on that are NOT private, so if you are using that ISP you will ALWAYS be using one in their range, and they do keep logs and can go back in time and find out what modem was using that specific IP address at a given time.

cable modems have a hardwired MAC address just like your network card, so they can attach a backstamped IP to you

 

[chesty]

Okay, so then if someone has accessed my computer which happened to me a few years back and used me to mail out spam which looked like it came from me I am screwed in proving that it wasn't me that did this shit? I had a charge on my account and had to cancel my visa card and I don't need my reputation getting smeared. My pictures, phone number, everything about me except my ssn was on that site as well as on my pc. So, there is now way then to determine where the intrusion came from if the address resolves to my home?

 

[drrman]

Okay, so then if someone has accessed my computer which happened to me a few years back and used me to mail out spam which looked like it came from me I am screwed in proving that it wasn't me that did this shit? I had a charge on my account and had to cancel my visa card and I don't need my reputation getting smeared. My pictures, phone number, everything about me except my ssn was on that site as well as on my pc. So, there is now way then to determine where the intrusion came from if the address resolves to my home?

so someone actually sent spam from your computer right? meaning it went out "from" your actual IP address?

not clear as to what happened.........did they resolve the emails as coming from your IP?

was there a website involved in this too?

 

[chesty]

Which means, I have to change all of my usernames (cause I pretty much used the same ones), I have to close my bank accounts, I have to change my email address's and probably have to change my website name, etc. I mean they only got 30.00 dollars from my account, so I am not wanting a full on federal investigation. Just the inconvenience of it all.

 

[drrman]

Which means, I have to change all of my usernames (cause I pretty much used the same ones), I have to close my bank accounts, I have to change my email address's and probably have to change my website name, etc. I mean they only got 30.00 dollars from my account, so I am not wanting a full on federal investigation. Just the inconvenience of it all.

im still confused, lets start from the beginning.........how does the spam they say came from your computer have anything to do with the false charges........im confused as to what all has taken place

 

[chesty]

so someone actually sent spam from your computer right? meaning it went out "from" your actual IP address?

not clear as to what happened.........did they resolve the emails as coming from your IP?

was there a website involved in this too?

Yes, they sent out some program and found something in my email settings that allowed them to use me as a mail hub and at some point some people complained to cox who then terminated my account for abuse. I told them I wasn't doing it. It turned out that someone had got into my system, through my firewall and was using my computer to send the emails by the tens of thousands!

So, that is why I am concerened.

 

[drrman]

Yes, they sent out some program and found something in my email settings that allowed them to use me as a mail hub and at some point some people complained to cox who then terminated my account for abuse. I told them I wasn't doing it. It turned out that someone had got into my system, through my firewall and was using my computer to send the emails by the tens of thousands!

So, that is why I am concerened.

ok, so they used your machine to route all their emails is what you are saying correct?

and you are worried that they got your bank account information etc from your machine they accessed? correct?

just because they routed the emails through yoru IP doesn't necessarily mean they had access to all your info on the PC.....did you have passwords stored visibly and account numbers stored visibly?

i take it you were NOT behind a router at that time correct?

this goes back to what i was saying on that thread last week, a router is the number one thing EVERY high speed internect connection should have......software firewalls are a joke

 

[drrman]

I think im understanding a bit more as to what has happened, you just got this 30 dollar charge after all of this correct and you are disputing it...right?

will your ISP not vouch for you and say that your machine was compromised?

 

[chesty]

Okay, the false credit charges happened a couple of days ago. The email incident happened a few years ago. Yes, the ip address was resolved as coming from my computer in the case of the email. In this case, I had been on a dating site a long time ago and had cancelled and deactivated my account. A few days ago, someone got into my account and started emailing a bunch of women and even sent something to my ex fiancee.

When found out about it, I immediately went in and saw that my account had been opened up again. So, I shut it down again and then contacted the site and had them completely remove my account. Then asked them if they would find out if they could how and where this came from. They said it looked like it was coming from me directly which is then why I asked for the ip address because if it appears to be coming from my computer I am screwed because no one will believe me that I had nothing to do with this shit. Then to top it off, as soon as I shut down my old account, another one was opened up using my information again within a few hours.

So, as you can see, I would like to be able to prove that I didn't do this, but it is looking like there is no way I can and I hope only that the dating site will generate a letter of explanation that I can use to exonerate my self at a minimum to my ex because I still need to get my ring back.

 

[drrman]

Okay, the false credit charges happened a couple of days ago. The email incident happened a few years ago. Yes, the ip address was resolved as coming from my computer in the case of the email. In this case, I had been on a dating site a long time ago and had cancelled and deactivated my account. A few days ago, someone got into my account and started emailing a bunch of women and even sent something to my ex fiancee.

When found out about it, I immediately went in and saw that my account had been opened up again. So, I shut it down again and then contacted the site and had them completely remove my account. Then asked them if they would find out if they could how and where this came from. They said it looked like it was coming from me directly which is then why I asked for the ip address because if it appears to be coming from my computer I am screwed because no one will believe me that I had nothing to do with this shit. Then to top it off, as soon as I shut down my old account, another one was opened up using my information again within a few hours.

So, as you can see, I would like to be able to prove that I didn't do this, but it is looking like there is no way I can and I hope only that the dating site will generate a letter of explanation that I can use to exonerate my self at a minimum to my ex because I still need to get my ring back.

damn man.....that sucks....i see where you are at now.

the dating site should be able to prove you didn't re open the account i would think........if you are behind a router there is no way someone is accessing your machine and opening that account "from" your IP address.....they must have opened it because they had your information to re open it correct?

 

[chesty]

I think im understanding a bit more as to what has happened, you just got this 30 dollar charge after all of this correct and you are disputing it...right?

will your ISP not vouch for you and say that your machine was compromised?

They told me that unless they are monitoring my computer at the time it happens they will not have a record as they do not monitor web traffic for each customer. Everyone I talked to at qwest told me that the best they could tell me since it happened several days ago was that the ip address originated in my area because they could not keep a record of where every single address went to every single time it went there.

Even if they could and it traces back to me, how the hell do I prove it wasn't me?

 

[drrman]

They told me that unless they are monitoring my computer at the time it happens they will not have a record as they do not monitor web traffic for each customer. Everyone I talked to at qwest told me that the best they could tell me since it happened several days ago was that the ip address originated in my area because they could not keep a record of where every single address went to every single time it went there.

Even if they could and it traces back to me, how the hell do I prove it wasn't me?

the dating site should log IP addresses also though...what can they tell you about the account being re opened?

 

[chesty]

damn man.....that sucks....i see where you are at now.

the dating site should be able to prove you didn't re open the account i would think........if you are behind a router there is no way someone is accessing your machine and opening that account "from" your IP address.....they must have opened it because they had your information to re open it correct?

That is true. I use the same handle for most of my stuff and just change passwords. My dating handle and ym handle were the same, my name here is similar.

I thought so to with the router, but I was behind a router when they used me for the spam incident.

Again, if it looks like it is coming from my machine, sounds like I am hosed. All I can say is I wasn' at my house at the time it happened. And who is gonna believe that.

At least the dating site did establish that i had cancelled my account when I said I did and someone opened on a 3 day free trial. They winked at my ex fiancee who is pissed now thinking I was cheating on her while still together and I have to prove that it wasn't me that did this. The dating site said they would send a letter stating that I had closed my account, but they may not be able to say that I didn't reopen the account.

There was a lot of personal info on that site about me, from my job, likes, dislikes etc and how the hell do I prove that I didn't send those emails?

 

[chesty]

the dating site should log IP addresses also though...what can they tell you about the account being re opened?

I asked for the ip address and they are gonna look it up. Like I said, if it looks like it is coming from my computer I am screwed and it is my word and reputation on the line and she wants hard evidence and I may not be able to get that. I hope I can from them.

 

[blut wump]

It sounds to me as though you had a trojan running on your machine. Basically, your machine was under someone else's control for a while and they used your machine and resources to do whatever they wanted.

If at any time you logged onto various sites or typed in your bank details then it is possible that all that information was garnered and is known to them. It'd be best to assume that your personal details are compromised and you should change everything that you can.

Never run any crap off the internet and never surf without a firewall. It sucks bro but these days everyone has the responsibilty of protecting themselves.

 

[drrman]

That is true. I use the same handle for most of my stuff and just change passwords. My dating handle and ym handle were the same, my name here is similar.

I thought so to with the router, but I was behind a router when they used me for the spam incident.

Again, if it looks like it is coming from my machine, sounds like I am hosed. All I can say is I wasn' at my house at the time it happened. And who is gonna believe that.

At least the dating site did establish that i had cancelled my account when I said I did and someone opened on a 3 day free trial. They winked at my ex fiancee who is pissed now thinking I was cheating on her while still together and I have to prove that it wasn't me that did this. The dating site said they would send a letter stating that I had closed my account, but they may not be able to say that I didn't reopen the account.

There was a lot of personal info on that site about me, from my job, likes, dislikes etc and how the hell do I prove that I didn't send those emails?

man.....tough one

as for the email spam thing, sounds more like a virus or worm where somone sent you an email and when you got the virus/worm it then sent out emails to all those people.........so the firewall/router there would not have helped, because you received that email and it sent out on its own in some executable fashion it seems.

if you were behind a router and it was configured with NO ports open as they are standard then they should not have been able to compromise your system without a worm or trojan......but one thing people do NOT do is change the password to log into the setup portion of the router.....say it is admin/admin as it comes in the box, well most leave it like that, but you should change the password because i could log into your router and change your settings, open up whatever ports i need to and then have a hay day with your system..........so they could have compromised the physical settings in your router also

 

[drrman]

It sounds to me as though you had a trojan running on your machine. Basically, your machine was under someone else's control for a while and they used your machine and resources to do whatever they wanted.

If at any time you logged onto various sites or typed in your bank details then it is possible that all that information was garnered and is known to them. It'd be best to assume that your personal details are compromised and you should change everything that you can.

Never run any crap off the internet and never surf without a firewall. It sucks bro but these days everyone has the responsibilty of protecting themselves.

yeh, thats what i was thinking.......sounds more like a worm/trojan got him

 

[chesty]

That is true, I have not changed my password and it also has wireless capability which I checked and it did not have the security thing set.

Okay, so, is there anything that I can say to these people to get them to believe me then? I have not seen the emails that were sent and I don't want to have to change everything from my user names to my phone numbers, etc.

 

[drrman]

That is true, I have not changed my password and it also has wireless capability which I checked and it did not have the security thing set.

Okay, so, is there anything that I can say to these people to get them to believe me then? I have not seen the emails that were sent and I don't want to have to change everything from my user names to my phone numbers, etc.

well bro, that pretty much tells me what happened.......someone very easily access your wireless connection and pretty much did whatever they wanted to

and the firewall properties of the router are useless to a machine that is accessing your router via wireless because that machine is getting a IP from the router just like your machine was, meaning both your machine and anyone who accesses your wireless connection will both be on the same subnet and your machine then is VERY vulnerable

not only could someone steal your connection, you are basically allowing them to join your home network or workgroup....

not sure bro, but i would change everything i could just to be safe

 

[drrman]

have you secured your wireless router now?

 

[chesty]

I am doing that now, putting in the passwords etc. I am also worried about what they said in all those emails, if they gave out my info like phone numbers, etc. Then I have to prove that I didn't do that either. Shit, I might as well just give up.

 

[chesty]

Is anyone here an expert or such that could draft a convincing letter explaining how this happened that I could then provide to the dating site to let them know what happened and then I could provide that to my ex? It would have to be legit though.

 

[blut wump]

It sounds like you need legal advice if your ISP is hassling you. As I see it, you can't prove that you didn't send the emails just as they can't prove that you did.

All you can do at this stage is present what happened and explain that you were broken into by some computer expert who managed to circumvent your systems and steal your resources.

 

[chesty]

That is what I figured. I don't think I will have a problem with getting my 30 dollars back and I really don't care about that. I just don't want my friends and ex thinking I am a liar.

 

[chesty]

It sounds like you need legal advice if your ISP is hassling you. As I see it, you can't prove that you didn't send the emails just as they can't prove that you did.

All you can do at this stage is present what happened and explain that you were broken into by some computer expert who managed to circumvent your systems and steal your resources.

ISP isn't hastling me, just said they can't determine the exist spot the ip went to since it happened several days ago. That is fine with me, just want this gone.

 

[chesty]

I have changed all my passwords, turned on wireless security, blocked the site the people accessed from my computer etc. Now,all I have to pray for is that the site will give me a letter exonerating me from this freaking mess. I have no idea what they may said in there emails, etc, but I hope the people that were emailed deleted the emails and I hope the site will be able to tell me what they wrote, etc.

don't the sites like match keep copies of all of the emails that is sent throught them or do they only keep the ones that are sent to them for review?

 

[drrman]

I have changed all my passwords, turned on wireless security, blocked the site the people accessed from my computer etc. Now,all I have to pray for is that the site will give me a letter exonerating me from this freaking mess. I have no idea what they may said in there emails, etc, but I hope the people that were emailed deleted the emails and I hope the site will be able to tell me what they wrote, etc.

don't the sites like match keep copies of all of the emails that is sent throught them or do they only keep the ones that are sent to them for review?

not sure bro....but say they did email them, the emails didn't come from your personal account correct, they came from your account within the dating site right?

 

[chesty]

Yep, they came from the dating site, not my personal email which is hosted in Kansas about a 1000 miles from here. Plus, I was at work all day Wed till 7, then I was in town for dinner after that. Wed is when this happened. And thursday as soon as I found out, I logged in to my account, closed it again, then sent them email through their site to remove my profile and info completely. Then I guess sometime after that another account was started. I wasn't home for that one either, I was at work till 8 then I went to dinner and partied till about 1 am then went home. Friday, I spent all day with them on the phone.

I also, just got the letter from the VA about our stolen records, while I am sure this had nothing to do with that, at least I can use that to say hey look, my info is out there, so, give me the benifit of the doubt.