The question what is an IP address is the one virtually any internet user asks at some point in his learning process.  The users of the internet encounter the “IP address” phrase practically at every step or click. But not everyone knows what the acronym really means and what information about them may be disclosed to others. If you are one of them, I kindly invite you to read the article where I try to answer the question what is an IP address and also what can others discover about you knowing only your IP and how can you try to avoid being “exposed” online or what can you do to increase your online privacy protection. If you are familiar with the term, I also invite you to read and comment at the end if I made any crucial mistakes.

What is an IP address?

IP address (IP stands for Internet Protocol) can be roughly described as a unique name of any personal computer (or laptop, or tablet, or smartphone, or…), connected on the Internet. The system of IP addresses allows the devices on the Internet to identify themselves and makes it possible to communicate and share data.

For quite some time the most widespread standard of IP addresses is IPv4. Address in this system consists of four numbers separated by a dot (xx.xx.xx.xx format) with a maximum of three digits.

Check this link if you want to find out what is your IP address 🙂

The era of IPv4 standard, although it is still very dominant today, is very likely coming to an end in the upcoming years. The fact is that because of its limitations the number of unique combinations will sooner or later run out. But don’t worry. It will be replaced with IPv6 standard, which allows 2 to the power of 128 different addresses.

Unique (static) IP address is assigned to the user by his Internet service provider. If you are using a router, you will be awarded your (dynamic) IP, which means that the website you visit will see the IP of the router and not the one that represents your personal computer.

Can IP disclose your personal information?

The first personal information which IP address can disclose about you as an internet user is your geolocation. But since most of us are connected to the world wide web through the network of our internet service provider with the help of a router, the determination of our exact location is almost impossible. Those who would like to check the IP from which they received your mail or any other information, would probably only see the information about the city from which the data were sent.

Researchers from the OPC (Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada) found out that the IP address can in some cases also disclose users’ sports, labor, religious, sexual and many other interests. This is because the majority of the websites are recording every IP address that visits their pages.

The IP address thus can not disclose the user’s identity. However, with its help a lot can be revealed about you by those who know which IP you are using (for example, computer specialists in your company or employees at your Internet service provider).

Masking the IP address for more privacy

Many users who are concerned about their privacy on the Internet are using VPN (Virtual Private Network) services. This service allows you to connect to the Internet via encrypted tunnels. VPN service of the majority of third-party providers (you can find a huge  selection of both free and paid services on the Internet) roughly works in a way that you have to install a PC client and log in with your username and password.

The computer then establishes communication with the remote server and joins his network. A further connection to the Internet is encrypted and protected against unsolicited intruders.

Some of the most reliable service providers of Virtual Private Network:

• Private Internet Access
• NordVPN
• ExpressVPN

What is Tor and why intelligence agencies are looking down on it?

One of the visible consequences of the Edward Snowden scandal back in 2013 was the growth of online privacy protection awareness. This has led to greater prevalence of Tor (known also as The Onion Router), a tool that provides the internet anonymity.

Before that, Tor was quite niche-oriented software. Those who have already heard about it, but never really used, argued (based on completely unverified facts) that it is primarily the domain of the bad guys in the hidden corners of the Internet (the so-called deep Web) allegedly trading in drugs and nuclear warheads. While it is true that Tor seems like a perfect tool for this purpose, his main mission is to provide sincere anonymity against government agencies and corporations. Or against anyone wishing to obtain information about the locations of Internet users and monitor their online activities.

How does Tor work?

Tor uses the principle of onions (Onion Routing), which was patented by the US Navy almost 20 years ago. In this method of network communication messages are protected with multiple encryption. Those encryptions act as signposts for information traveling through a number of routers (onion routers). Digital intermediaries with conditional exception of the first and last do not know where the message originates, where it is intended and what is its content. Travelling of information is in some way similar to removing the layers of an onion.

I tested Tor myself a while ago and I can tell you that surfing the web is noticeably slower than when using the classic browser due to all the above mentioned redirections. On top of that, at that time some media plugins such as Adobe Flash, did not work (YouTube otherwise can be awaken with a player that uses standard HTML 5).

The latest Tor browser allows you to activate the Flash Player although you should be aware that this is insecure in terms of online privacy protection. There are many options people can exploit Flash to get your real identity, so using Flash in Tor is like having glass windows in the tank. You can get it working with Tor, but it is highly unrecommended to do so.

Tor for Microsoft Windows and Unix-like (Android, Linux, OS X) is free of charge.

So who are the most frequent users of Tor?

It is true that Tor is often exploited for the purpose of dirty business (for example a trade exchange in the infamous Silk Road, an Internet black market that was saturated with drugs, arms and “special” services). But for a major part of Tor users it serves for entirely different reasons.

Tor project team says that among the most frequent clients the following user groups appear:

• average Joe and Jane, who want to protect their personal information and information about the Internet activities against invasive websites and advertisers;
• cautious people who worry about cybercrime and Internet espionage;
• journalists and activists in the countries that suffer strict censorship in the media and the Internet;
• technologically aware and caring parents who do not want to disclose the location of their children, who are just getting to know the interesting world of Internet;
• controversial and provocative bloggers, influential people from the business, media and political sphere, IT professionals and also representatives of the law and the army.

One of the most famous Tor users is of course an American computer expert Edward Snowden. He provided information about the PRISM program to some of the biggest US media through The Onion Router. The PRISM program was used by the US Agency for National Security (NSA) for spying (mainly) for citizens of the United States, Germany, India, China, Egypt, and the majority of countries in the Middle East.