IP address and yahoo messenger

[elainebludfairy]

hello..

ive been told that someone with the proper know-how can have my IP address just by adding them to my buddy list on yahoo messenger..

or just by chatting on PMs even without doing filesharing or cam or voice..

how true is this?? and how can they do that??

i know someone can hack any system just by knowing the IP..

is it really possible??

[NogDog]

...
i know someone can hack any system just by knowing the IP..
...
That is a mistaken assumption. Every time you access a web site, it knows your IP address (unless you are accessing via a proxy, in which case the proxy knows your IP address).

If simply knowing your IP address were enough, then we'd all be hacked by now.

[elainebludfairy]

ok.. i mean just if they know a way like using a program or something..

but how true is the claim someone can get your IP just by adding them to your buddy list or by just talking on pm??

people behaved more curiously on messengers than websites..

and isnt it the IP is part of the main things a hacker used to hack?? i could be wrong ofcourse..

i am just asking so that i know a bit of something..

[Stephen Philbin]

An IP address is required to crack a remote system, yes (you can't connect something if you don't know where it is), but someone can't crack your system just because they have your address. Apparently there's standard software kits you can download and install that let you screw around with and screw up computers with a default install of Windows XP (and some common firewall/antivirus solutions). I don't know quite how accurate that information is, though.

I gave up worrying about that stuff a long time ago so I never really bothered looking into it.

[JPnyc]

I don't know of a way to grab someone's IP just by adding them to your yahoo msgr contact list. Doesn't mean there ISN'T a way, just means I haven't heard of it.

[LeeU]

Yahoo, the company, obtains your IP, but other users get just your account name.

Your IP address is just like your home address. Your home address is public information but it doesn't mean anybody has access to your house. When you enter a domain name in the address bar of your browser, a lookup is done to find the actual address (IP) for that domain name. A domain name is only for us humans, computers only use them to find the correct IP address.

[elainebludfairy]

oh.. okey..

i will start not worrying about this stuff for now on too..

its just that you cant help but worry most of all if you're ignorant about these things.. and especially if someone's keep threating you about it..

thanks all..

[Stephen Philbin]

There's also a good chance that your IP address will frequently change. I have to constantly try to keep my IP address for my computer at home the same so I can easily access it via the domain name lookup mechanism that Lee described.

Your IP address might be whatever it is now, but it it might well have changed in a few hours. There's no shortage of stupid kids that like to claim they can crack computers if they find out your IP, but I'd be surprised to see one that could actually do it. If he could, then he'd surely have obtained your IP address by now.

[elainebludfairy]

he did.. he posted my IP on chatroom.. my IP i think is static.. coz its always the same for months now..

i dont know how he knew.. hes like immature.. he did the same to others on the chatroom.. having a great time showing off..

but if its not really that a threat.. well ill stop worrying for now..

[JPnyc]

Or, it might be like my cable company. My cable IP hasn't changed in eight or 10 months. There's no predicting

[LeeU]

He's just immature. It doesn't mean anything. In fact, you could just tell that to the others on the chat room. Many contact forms that you fill-out collect your IP address in case of spam or other things. You can stop worrying, it's not a problem.

[elainebludfairy]

thanks!! ..feel much better now!! ..and will pass on the info to my friends!!

thanks again!!

[boxxertrumps]

Yeah... obtaining an IP address is a four second job to a cracker. (the terminal takes two seconds to open...)
[boxxertrumps@localhost ~]$ ping www.google.com
PING www.l.google.com (72.14.205.99) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from qb-in-f99.google.com (72.14.205.99): icmp_seq=1 ttl=248 time=19.5 ms
64 bytes from qb-in-f99.google.com (72.14.205.99): icmp_seq=2 ttl=248 time=16.4 ms
64 bytes from qb-in-f99.google.com (72.14.205.99): icmp_seq=3 ttl=248 time=15.8 ms
64 bytes from qb-in-f99.google.com (72.14.205.99): icmp_seq=4 ttl=248 time=17.8 ms
64 bytes from qb-in-f99.google.com (72.14.205.99): icmp_seq=5 ttl=248 time=18.5 ms

--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 15.805/17.621/19.537/1.361 ms
Aslong as you have a firewall with no open ports, you are fine. a home network isn't worth a professionals time to get into, and a less experienced person would have trouble without knowing tons of information about it.
Tell the guy that he doesn't know anything about cracking, and that if he did, he would know that ip addresses are useless once you have them and simple to find.
Basically it's like someone knowing where you live and being unable to climb your barbed wire fence.

[elainebludfairy]

i dont really know anything about ports.. my firewall is something called Windows Firewall only..

that analogy is very crystal:cool:

as long as he cant burn any hard drives of mine or messed with my system 32 folder (thats the claim:confused: )

because i would hate to have to do a reformatting or to buy a new hard drive..

right now.. i am following the footsteps of stephen.. that is to gave up worrying about this stuff.. because its making me paranoid:(

[Stephen Philbin]

He could also quite easily show you your IP without ever knowing it. You might have seen it before; in image of a smiley or an aardvark or whatever holding up a sign that has your IP address and service provider written on it. You can do the same with plain text in a forum post too with a bit of simple javascript.

Regardless of whether he actually knows your address or not, it's still very unlikely he can touch your computer. If you connect to the internet through a router, then I'd be 99.999999999999999r% certain that he can't touch your computer. Just sounds like some dumb kid that's been watching too many movies.