Learn to Search IP Addresses and Locate Their Origin

Learn to Search IP Addresses and Locate Their Origin
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IP Address Overview

Many people do not understand how much information an IP address reveals about an Internet user. Authorities use IP addresses to track down hackers. Intellectual property holders use IP addresses to locate downloaders of illegal content. Hackers user IP addresses to embed bots on the computers of unsuspecting users to launch denial of service (DoS) attacks.

Although many people search IP addresses for nefarious purposes, some uses of IP address search information are more innocuous. For example, website operators may want to monitor the sources of IP addresses to their site to discover what kind of regional appeal their site has online. Some individuals may want to learn more about the information their web browser reveals so the ability to view this information online is valuable to them.

The potentially endless list of reasons why Internet users may search IP addresses is why Internet users should learn how to search IP addresses and see where they come from.

Finding Your Own IP Address and Location

A number of Internet security and utility sites operate free web pages that will help users search out their own IP address and what

location their IP address points to. IP Address Location is one such site that will tell a visitor all the information they need to know about their own IP address.

Sites like these are good to build an awareness among Internet users about the kind of information they routinely reveal while browsing the Web. Those who have countermeasures such as proxies and anonymizers can visit these sites to verify that their configurations are working properly.

When researching one’s own IP address, information including their external (public) IP address, their Windows IP address (the address of a computer inside a local area network), their geographic location, and their Internet service provider (ISP) are revealed.

Finding Out Someone Else’s Location From Their IP Address

Website operators can learn about spammers and intrusion attempts from the log files generated on their web server. Other applications including firewalls and blogs also log IP addresses, allowing users to find out more about visitors to their site.

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WordPress, one of the most popular blogging and CMS applications, maintains a running list of the IP addresses of those who post articles and comments to a blog.

Webmasters can now copy these addresses and then paste them into the search field on sites like IP2Location.com.

The results delivered may vary from site to site, but most users can expect to find (1) the country of origin for each IP address, (2) the region within that country, (3) the city associated with the host for that IP address, and (4) the ISP that operates that IP address. In some cases a map or mapping option may also appear, adding a graphic touch to the process.

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Start Searching Now

With these examples for searching IP addresses, users of all types may now benefit from discovering the information associated with IP addresses.

Screenshots taken by Bruce Tyson