What a cybercriminal can do with your IP address

If a hacker manages to know your IP address – which is like the digital fingerprint of your Internet connection – they can carry out actions that could put your Internet security at risk.

Although it does not reveal personal information in itself, a cybercriminal who has it can use it to carry out malicious activities. Therefore, hackers often use specialized programs to identify vulnerabilities associated with an IP address.

Digital espionage, scams, or even stealing your identity are some of the dangers of someone malicious knowing your IP.

Actions that a ‘hacker’ can commit with your IP

These are the actions that a hacker could take if they get hold of your IP address. Take note:

Identify your approximate location

The IP address can provide details about the city or region in which you are located, as well as the Internet Service Provider (ISP) you have contracted.

While it is true that it does not provide your exact address, a hacker can use tools like “WhatIsMyIPAddress” to collect that information.

With this series of data, it can try to carry out personalized attacks based on social engineering such as, for example, calling your mobile phone posing as your Internet provider and in this way requesting sensitive or confidential information.

Scan your network

There are programs like Nmap that a hacker can use to scan your network for vulnerabilities if they have your IP address.

By executing this action you will be able to know which devices are connected to the network, what ports are open at that moment and what services are running.

If it finds an open port or a service with security flaws that it knows how to operate, it can exploit it and gain unauthorized access to your network or devices.

Perform denial of service (DDoS) attacks

Using your IP address, the hacker could also send you a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

Doing so will flood your network or device with many requests until it becomes unable to respond. As a result, you may be temporarily offline.

While it is true that DDoS are usually directed at large companies or services, you should still protect yourself if you are a common user or if you play online games, as you can be attacked through this malicious technique.

Impersonate your IP identity (IP Spoofing)

If an attacker gets your IP address, they can impersonate you on the Internet. This is known as “IP spoofing”, and it is used to carry out illegal or malicious activities without being traceable.

Logically, in this case, the activity will appear to come from your IP, which could cause serious problems, especially if an investigation arises for something that you probably did not commit.

Access sensitive information

The hacker can also detect some type of failures in your router or the devices that are connected and may have direct access to personal files, stored passwords or emails, among other data.

In fact, it could install malware or spyware in order to steal sensitive information or even monitor all your activity in real time.

The most recommended thing in this case is that you update the firmware of your router, use strong passwords and do not allow people outside your home to have access to your Wi-Fi network.

Sell ​​your IP address on the ‘dark web’

On the dark web, cybercriminals buy and sell packages that can include a huge number of IP addresses accompanied by other information that has been collected.

With these addresses, hackers launch large-scale attacks or even launch phishing campaigns. In that sense, if your IP address falls into unscrupulous hands it can be marketed and you could be a victim of scams in the long term.

Launch phishing and vishing attacks

Additionally, your IP address can be used to carry out phishing attacks, posing as a legitimate entity with the sole intention of obtaining your personal information.

In other scenarios, they could also do “vishing”, which is phishing through phone calls.

Steal your identity

If the hacker knows your IP, he can execute a phishing attack to find out your name, where you live and even know your bank details,

If this happens, your identity could be at risk since with that information they can request bank loans in your name, make fraudulent purchases or sell your data.

Track your Internet activity

A cybercriminal could also monitor your online activity. You will be able to know which websites you usually visit, what files you download and even searches you perform.

Not only that, it can track when you are actually at home or at work, greatly compromising your privacy.

Make restrictions and blocks

If your IP falls into the hands of a hacker, you run the risk of being blocked from online services at some point.

And if you are the victim of an attack or if the administrator of a certain service suspects the existence of malicious activity coming from your IP, you could find yourself in trouble.

This could happen in online games, where there is a server administrator who can ban you and prohibit your access due to problems with your IP.

How to protect your IP from hackers

On the Internet there are no infallible security measures, but one so that you can protect your IP to try not to fall into this series of inconveniences, it is recommended that you use a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

This is one of the most efficient ways that you can easily use to hide your real IP. This way, you can mask it behind another address that as such will not be exactly associated with you.

For its part, it would also be very useful if you can keep your devices updated with their security patches and, if possible, you can use a firewall so that you can prevent unauthorized access to the network you have.

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