The use of IP addresses typically happens behind the scenes. The process works like this:. As the process implies, there are different types of IP addresses, which we explore below. There are different categories of IP addresses, and within each category, different types. Every individual or business with an internet service plan will have two types of IP addresses: their private IP addresses and their public IP address.
The terms public and private relate to the network location — that is, a private IP address is used inside a network, while a public one is used outside a network. Every device that connects to your internet network has a private IP address.
This includes computers, smartphones, and tablets but also any Bluetooth-enabled devices like speakers, printers, or smart TVs. With the growing internet of things , the number of private IP addresses you have at home is probably growing.
Your router needs a way to identify these items separately, and many items need a way to recognize each other. Therefore, your router generates private IP addresses that are unique identifiers for each device that differentiate them on the network. A public IP address is the primary address associated with your whole network. While each connected device has its own IP address, they are also included within the main IP address for your network.
Your public IP address is the address that all the devices outside your internet network will use to recognize your network. Dynamic IP addresses change automatically and regularly. ISPs buy a large pool of IP addresses and assign them automatically to their customers. Periodically, they re-assign them and put the older IP addresses back into the pool to be used for other customers. The rationale for this approach is to generate cost savings for the ISP.
There are security benefits, too, because a changing IP address makes it harder for criminals to hack into your network interface. In contrast to dynamic IP addresses, static addresses remain consistent.
Once the network assigns an IP address, it remains the same. Most individuals and businesses do not need a static IP address, but for businesses that plan to host their own server, it is crucial to have one. This is because a static IP address ensures that websites and email addresses tied to it will have a consistent IP address — vital if you want other devices to be able to find them consistently on the web.
This leads to the next point — which is the two types of website IP addresses. These are shared and dedicated. Websites that rely on shared hosting plans from web hosting providers will typically be one of many websites hosted on the same server.
This tends to be the case for individual websites or SME websites, where traffic volumes are manageable, and the sites themselves are limited in terms of the number of pages, etc.
Websites hosted in this way will have shared IP addresses. Some web hosting plans have the option to purchase a dedicated IP address or addresses. This makes it easier to share and transfer files with multiple people within an organization and allow anonymous FTP sharing options. A dedicated IP address also allows you to access your website using the IP address alone rather than the domain name — useful if you want to build and test it before registering your domain. Google will show you the answer at the top of the page.
Other websites will show you the same information: they can see your public IP address because, by visiting the site, your router has made a request and therefore revealed the information.
Generally, you will only receive an approximation of location using this technique — where the provider is, but not the actual device location. If you are doing this, remember to log out of your VPN too. Obtaining the actual physical location address for the public IP address usually requires a search warrant to be submitted to the ISP.
If you need to check the IP addresses of other devices on your network, go into the router. How you access the router depends on the brand and the software it uses.
Generally, you should be able to type the router's gateway IP address into a web browser on the same network to access it.
From there, you will need to navigate to something like "attached devices," which should display a list of all the devices currently or recently attached to the network — including their IP addresses.
Cybercriminals can use various techniques to obtain your IP address. Two of the most common are social engineering and online stalking. Attackers can use social engineering to deceive you into revealing your IP address. For example, they can find you through Skype or a similar instant messaging application, which uses IP addresses to communicate. If you chat with strangers using these apps, it is important to note that they can see your IP address. Attackers can use a Skype Resolver tool, where they can find your IP address from your username.
Criminals can track down your IP address by merely stalking your online activity. Any number of online activities can reveal your IP address, from playing video games to commenting on websites and forums.
Once they have your IP address, attackers can go to an IP address tracking website, such as whatismyipaddress. They can then cross-reference other open-source data if they want to validate whether the IP address is associated with you specifically.
They can then use LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social networks that show where you live, and then see if that matches the area given.
If a Facebook stalker uses a phishing attack against people with your name to install spying malware , the IP address associated with your system would likely confirm your identity to the stalker. If cybercriminals know your IP address, they can launch attacks against you or even impersonate you.
It is important to be aware of the risks and how to mitigate them. Risks include:. The last top-level address blocks were allocated in The address size was increased from 32 bits in IPv4 to bits in IPv6.
The IPv6 has a theoretical limit of 3. IPv6 addresses are represented by eight sets of four hexadecimal digits, and each set of numbers is separated by a colon.
An example IPv6 address would look like this:. With IPv6 addresses being so long, there are conventions to allow for their abbreviation. First, leading zeros from any one group of numbers may be eliminated.
For example, can be written as Second, any consecutive sections of zeros can be represented by a double colon. This may be done only once in any address. The number of sections removed using this abbreviation can be determined as the number required to bring the address back up to eight sections.
Like in IPv4 certain address blocks are reserved for private networks. These addresses are not routed over the public internet. In both IPv4 and IPv6, remembering the IP address of every device is not possible, except on the smallest of networks. Name resolution provides a way to lookup an IP address from an easier to use name. With DNS, a name in the format host.
When the connection is initiated, the source host will request the IP address of the destination host from a DNS server. This IP address will then be used for all communications sent to that name.
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Customer Login. Search Search. IT Explained: IP address. Back to index. Content 1. What is an IP address? The Internet Protocol IP 3. IP Versions 4. IPv4 Addresses 5. IPv6 Addresses 6. Name Resolution. The Internet Protocol IP. How IP works IP is designed to work over a dynamic network. IP versions. In binary arithmetic, each bit within a group represents a power of two. Specifically, the first bit in a group represents 2 0 [Editor's note for non-math majors: mathematicians stipulate that any number raised to the power of zero equals 1], the second bit represents 2 1 , the third bit represents 2 2 , and so on.
It's easy to understand binary because each successive bit in a group is exactly twice the value of the previous bit. The following table represents the value for each bit in a byte remember, a byte is 8 bits.
In binary math, the values for the bits ascend from right to left, just as in the decimal system you're accustomed to:. Now that we know how to calculate the value for each bit in a byte, creating large numbers in binary is simply a matter of turning on certain bits and then adding together the values of those bits.
So what does an 8-bit binary number like represent? The following table dissects this number. Remember, a computer uses 1 to signify "on" and 0 to signify "off":.
In the table above, you can see that the bits with the values 64, 32, 8, 4 and 2 are all turned on. As mentioned before, calculating the value of a binary number means totaling all the values for the "on" bits.
Binary arithmetic is pretty easy once you know what's going on. So now that you understand a bit about binary pun intended , you can understand the technical definition of an IP address. To your computer, an IP address is a bit number subdivided into four bytes. Remember the example of an IP above, Using binary arithmetic, we can convert that IP address to its binary equivalent.
This is how your computer sees that IP:. Understanding binary also provides you with some of the rules pertaining to IPs.
We wondered why the four segments of an IP were called octets. Well, now that you know that each octet is actually a byte, or eight bits, it makes a lot more sense to call it an octet.
And remember how the values for each octet in an IP were within the range of 0 to , but we didn't know why? Using binary arithmetic, it's easy to calculate the highest number that a byte can represent. Now that you understand binary and how computers see IP addresses, you might think, "That's interesting, but what's the point? In fact, we purposely write IPs in decimal so that it is easier for humans to understand and remember them.
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