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Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Is it at all risky to give someone your IP address for them to send you a picture in the right format?
This person keeps asking me for it cos apparently the picture is in linux but twice my computer has crashed after giving the number. I don't know anything about computers but I was just wondering about this one cos it seems kind of coincidental!
This person keeps asking me for it cos apparently the picture is in linux but twice my computer has crashed after giving the number. I don't know anything about computers but I was just wondering about this one cos it seems kind of coincidental!
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I would advise you give no one your IP address...
DO NOT give people your IP address. All sites track your IP address when you log on and it usually changes every time you log on to the net anyway. BUT, if someone is specifically asking you for your IP address it means they want to connect to your computer. Once they connect to your computer they have access to your files and can read your passwords and any other personal and confidential information you might have.
There is no need for anyone to have your IP address to send you pictures. That is crap. Also, DO NOT accept anything that is in .exe format. It is a program and can run on your computer and do nasty stuff to it. Pictures are usually in .jpg format. If they say, oh the file is compressed or whatever don't be believe them and don't open it. If it is not in a .jpg format, it could be a virus.
Anyway I'll remember never to give out my IP number!
Thanks -x
Possibly your computer was crashing because whoever was getting your IP address was running a lame little script designed to crash windows PCs over the 'net. That could be why they wanted your IP address.
Thats not strictly true, it depends if your ISP has given you a static IP address or not... if your on a broadband connection your IP address is likely to remain static.
There is no need for anyone to have your IP address to send you pictures.
Again, not strictly true... think about it this way:
computer 1 (192.168.0.1) <<--- picture transfer --->> computer 2 (222.101.3.4)
People genuinely don't need to know them, but your computer does... now without the IP address how is the computer going to know where to send the files too... this works with all transfers even those by MSN or Yahoo! except the key thing is Microsoft hides them using its version of NAT which isn't very secure.. for example if I was being sent a file from someone using MSN I could easily find that persons IP by using a little NETSTAT command.
Now in usual microsoft terms they wouldn't really need to know your IP as the programs do it all for you.. but this person is using Linux which requires a bit more programming... again it depends what program they are using.
Possibly your computer was crashing because whoever was getting your IP address was running a lame little script designed to crash windows PCs over the 'net.
Ahhh, now its starting to make sense, DoS (Denial Of Service) attacks on Microsoft... basically where a 'haxor wannabe' uses some cheesy program which does something along the lines of sending lots of garbled data on port 189, the computer gets confused and you get the Blue screen.
I'm assuming your using an older version of Windows, Microsoft have repaired your typical 'NUKE' attack with the critical updates which can be downloaded either off the 'Windows Update' site, the Microsoft Security Website, by use of a firewall (with certain ports blocked) or various programs available online....
Justin,
Why are you confusing the issue here? She is not an IT guru like you are. So, in the most simplistic terms, she should not be giving out her IP address to anyone. It is better to be safe than sorry.
IP addresses aren't the hardest or most kept secret in the world now are they? Just because she doesn't give one or or yourself for that matter.. doesn't mean you won't get attacked and if you don't have adaquate protection its not fun...
I think most broadband accounts, in the UK at least, don't have static IPs - I think some places will offer it, at a cost.
Also, if someone wants to send a picture, what's wrong with emailing it? That way, IP addresses don't come into it.
True, but if you reconnect within an hour or so you often get the same IP address, and if like me your network is permanantly connected to the net and reconects immeadiatly the line goes down for whatever reason it will pretty much stay the same..
My IP changes about once every 2-3 months when the service goes down for a while.
Personally I suggest you get a good firewall installed that blocks most intruder attacks. Zone Alarm have a free version that is adequate for most people. You'd be suprised at how often these attacks are attempted once you start logging them!
Here's a decent web site to read: http://grc.com but it may be a bit 'whoosh'
To stop hackers download Zonealarm.
I have broadband through Freeserve, and the IP does change occasionally. Remeber that the most common self-install adsl now is the green frog powered from the usb port, so it's powered off every time the shuts down.
Zone alarm is free and good but it keeps forgetting my settings Grr!.
We did a test here with the http://grc.com port probe etc and found the Windows XP native firewall adequate against incoming attacks for now.