Is there a way to find out the location (at least by town) of an internet user, from their IP Address ?

[kyledyr]

and not just their 'general location' ?

it seems to me that IP Addresses actualy correspond to the ISP's themselves, therefore it is a 'general location' of the actual machine/pesron online.

Is it possible - in any shape or form to actualy know, the 'city' or better yet - the TOWN the individual hails from ?


Its making sense to me now. Law Authorities etc will need to contact the ISP first in order to get detailed/informative history of ANYBODY who has ever subscribed to them, and used the net, from their household.

Libraries, Internet Cafes etc are therefore smarter choices for those who want to do some 'naughty' things like hacking or maybe some uber cool/un-cool cyberwarfare heh

(if such places dont have CCTV then there is absolutely no way of knowing for sure that a ceratin pesron used a certain machine at any given time, unless an ID card or credentials of a user were used at such a venue which identified that individual on that premises etc etc)


what I want to know is - i looked up my IP address but it corresponds to an address that is OUTSIDE of London, so I can only assume that it is GIVEN to me (and its a static IP address folks, which means I can access my PC from anywhere around the globe handy, yes. Security issues involved - yes)

i reached the conclusion that armed with an IP address - you can't get far.

Obviously one needs to be able to know how and where that IP address is routed and obviously the source is where detailed information of that IP address (such as who it has been assigned to, where that computer and connection actualy goes online from) is stored.

maybe all this stuff is over my head, and I ought to clarify wtf im asking.

if gave you my IP Address for example, would you be able to use it to find the 'pin-point' EXACT location of my residence or at least the location of me ?

or is this not possible ?

i know what MAC addresses are - at a basic level. but i think they may be outside the scope of what im asking etc ?

do get back to me on this one PC wizkids, network gurus, net geeks, hackers, cyber-terrorists/criminals and bored computer nerds.

[chiram97]

Copied this from a website i used to frequent.

I am an IT professional with over 15 years of Technology experience. I build and secure networks wordwide. I also conduct e-discovery and forensic data retrieval and wanted just to throw out some info on the myths I have been seeing here.

First of all do not get paranoid. The NCSD ( National Cyber Security Division) is about the only agency worldwide with the resources and abilities to track you down in cyber space. They however spend most of thier time combating virus outbreaks and attacks that threaten the stability of the Internet and worldwide communications. And of course tracking down terrorists!

Local and federal agencies do not have the equipment or resources to pinpoint your location via the internet. Let me quantify that,,,,,

The most common way for people to get busted on the internet is to reveal thier true identity or identifying information somewhere and it is found by a local agency and they come a knockin,,,most likely with warrant in hand for your computers and stroage media. This is how they get the rest of the information to carry a case. (The odds of this happening are highly unlikely)

The second most common way for people to get busted or identified is to be investigated for other charges, they come get your computer, and boom your busted for something totally unrelated. (This is more common)

Internet Browsing:

First and foremost your internet browser habits are pretty safely confined within your computer. You can be hacked and monitored, but this is highly unlikely as in todays Hacking Trends Hackers are targeting businesses and corporations rather than individual homes. Again it will be a hacker that gets you, not the LEO....

If your browsing is a concern to you and you really want to take another measure then use a PROXY SERVER - Proxys mask your IP (internet protocol) address and lets you surf the net worry free. If anyone tries to track you IP they just go back to the free proxy server.

If you want to see if anyone is connected to your computer you could do this:

click start button
click run
type "cmd" (little black box appears)
in the box type netstat -n

this will output all currently connected IP addresses. If you see a wierd one that doesnt go with the rest of them (youll be able to tell) then there is something outside connected to you.

Spyware and viruses can make some connections as well so it may not be someone connected to you, but it might be something on your computer such as a virus or a spyware making an outgoing connection.

The fact that most people are on broadband connections makes tracking someone down via IP harder as well. With connections such as cable or dsl there is two things happening.

1. There is a lease on your IP address defined by your Internet Service Provider, for example 3 days is mine. That means every 3 days the IP address I have expires and I am issued a new one.

2. Your IP address is actually Natted through your ISP.
This means that the IP address you are getting is on thier local network and outside thier network your IP actually is represented as an public IP address. This complicates things more.

LEOS GOT YOUR COMPUTER>>>>>>NOW WHAT?

This is what happens when they come get your computer. They have a warrant to search the contents of the computer for anything "incriminating". They will do a basic search opening files and looking at historys and pictures. They will not be doing any "Forensic" looking at this point.

9 times out of 10 if they find nothing in this "look see" that will be the end of it and it will go no further. WHY?

Well because local law enforcement does not have the equipment to do a "bit level" investigation of the drive contents, They have to send it to a company to look at the drive at the "bit level". These companies charge very heavily for these investigations. The kicker is that they get paid wether they uncover 1000MB or none at all. Thats why the LEO agency has to weigh the importance of it. (Example: The last drive i sent to a forensic data recovery company cost me 9,000.00. and I got 1 file recovered)

If anything is found on the "look see" there is a high probability of them incurring the cost to dig deeper. The weight of the case also has alot to do with it... If there is no sales or distribution, or conspiricy involved then the cost would not be worth it to the state,,,,

The whole point of this is calm down, have fun, grow and POST. Dont worry about LEO's monitoring the site because thats about all they can do. Do not give out any personal information or identify yourself in any way and you can pretty much say anything you want safely.

I would keep a good regimen of computer housekeeping as well. Regualarly clean out your temporary internet files. Take pictures off your computers (the ones that could be damaging to you) and keep them on CD somewhere, instead of your computer.


If i was doing anything i didnt want tracking i'd use xb browser, not that i do cough cough

[caspar99]

You can try the first two links, but if they are using a proxy site like the sthird link, fat chance.

[colten]

Are yo some kind of stalker?

[hjortur]

ok an ip address is what distinguishes your computer from the one next to it and it has absolutely nothing to do with security or law or any government secret intelligence or any other aspect of spying. when a computer connects to another, which could be a remote unit or a server or has to upload or download some data or some traffic to do this the packets on a frame have to be given an address that is unique to the dial out phrase for each computer so that e-mails and things that are sent over SSL or HTTPs and so on are only sent to the directly indicated address.

on the question of spying and how do they do that?

ok there are two classic ways in which the UK government provides Police or anyone including local government under RIPA or any other crackpot laws actually act this is:

applying some type of software or some type of software capable of penetration beyond the anti-virus software.

interception at some point of the traffic routes from the server out to the isp and beyond the bastion gate from LAN to WAN, an on to the net.

so how do they do it?

well there is packet sniffing and there is direct monitoring of the URL or ip address and so on.

the only way that a computer can be found is two ways:

either the units UUID or if its transmission is on the GSM network then even if multiple encryption is used beyond the standard 3 phase and various states such as DES and so on the location depends on the cell and the distance of each cell to the signal being sent.

the other method is that a direct address that is related to a specific user or subscription that locates a router or port to a particular address.

in short the use of the internet and wireless is easy for the state to crack because of:

the operating system is universal and all systems have the same.
all browsers are exactly the same and use the same internet protocol suite.
the means and the method of connection through an isp is the the same.
computers tend to be used in a static place.



so ip address = unique address that relates to a particular computer.