I changed my password to an online account.
I then received an email telling me the IP address they were made from.
An IP address I did not recognise.
I checked the IP I think is me via network preferences. It is totally different!
Can anyone explain?
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
Network Preferences shows the IP number issued to your Mac by your router - often it will begin 192....
The number seen by the outside world is issued by your ISP; you can check this by looking in your router settings for the WAN IP number.
Your ISP issues one number: your router issues local IP numbers so that several devices can connect - each must have its own number. 192 series numbers are reserved for local use (so many people will be using the same numbers but only locally) and are never visible to the outside world.
If you Google
"what is my ip"
Google will tell you your IP address as seen by the outside world. This will be the shared IP address assigned to your home router.
Thanks for your replies Roger and Bob.
I find it tough to get my head around all this IP stuff.
What you say kinda helps me see something other than what I understand is going on.
So, changing my password in one online account returns me an email with an IP sender I do not recognise.
Obviously I am poor at basic knowledge on IT systems so I only thought one IP address were ever relevant and this seems to be the one in my System Preferences;Network.
However, changing the password in a yet another online account sent me another emeail with another IP sender address. Yep 3 so far.
So, in just 15 minutes I seem to be having 3 IP addresses declaring they are my macbook (including the one in my SP;Network).
I obviously need a lesson, to add to a long list.
So is it correct that the above is just standard? If so how the heck am I ever supposed to know who I am and whether someone else is hacking me as a go between?
The IP number in the Network prefs pane is irrelevant - it's purely local to your own network. The significant number is the one issued by your ISP, which you can check by the method Bob has given.
If you've changed a password and got a resultant email then it's not likely anyone else is involved or is hacking you. They may simply have detected the IP number incorrectly - there are any number of them between the web page and you.
Ok you guys, thanks very much for your help on this.
So in future if I change something and get an email telling me, "The soup dragon and the clangers IP" have modified your passwords - I need not worry since this is whom the virtual messages go through anyhow.
Yeah, farout addresses.
Cheers for your benevolence:)
If someone else had modified your passwords you'd know about it quick enough because you wouldn't be able to sign in.
Aha, well therein lies my mistrust. Consider the Murdoch scandal where only the tip of the iceberg ever got press coverage and the real exchange of information was all the way down to the rank and file. The majority of information exchange was about insignificant individuals who could never press charges or do anything about the extent of the subversive antics the dross of societies manipulators were advancing upon communities everywhere. Most likely the victims would never even know this, aside from Murdoch himself.
This was my consideration.
Interecepted and stored info to be used in clandestine ways or left alone just in case.
Who would even know?
So that was my hunch minus the Nostradamus. Alarm bells. I have wondered this for some years in fact!
I was wondering if you guys could reassure me such things are not possible.
I am aware of relatively uneducated individuals who get access to more advanced technological devices than I will ever hold in my lifetime. And if 'insignificant and precariat I' can know this, it begs the question as to how widespread it might be. In this respect power is afforded the recipients of devices, rather than those who might be more rational per se, due education et al.
All thiose IPs just made no sense to me, in person.
It is impossible to prove a negative. We can only tell you things that most likely make the password change secure.
If the website where you changed your password use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) which is generally seen by the URL have HTTPS://... as its URL and the Web Browser showing a padlock icon on the screen (Safari shows the padlock in the upper right hand corner of the Safari title bar when using an HTTPS (SSL) connection), then there is a very good chance that the connection was secure.
If you actually just changed your password, then you know someone else did not initiate the password change behind your back.
If you use the above mentioned Google Search for "what is my ip" right after the event, you will be told the IP address that the web site should have seen. Since this IP address can change if you take your Macbook to a different location (home vs coffee shop vs work vs library vs bookstore etc...) you need to change the IP address while in the same locaion. Also since most Internet visible IP addresses are dynamicly assigned, the IP address could change day-to-day as the ISP changes a given router's DHCP assigned IP address, so it is important to do the Google "what is my ip" search right after making the change and getting the email confirmation.
That is all very interesting Bob!
I submit to having spatial awareness issues where the internet is concerned. I soon read stuff and feel lost. Same with anything 'computer irrational'. "Abstract" is not good for my mind to pin down meaning at all.
So when , from a hard wired router, in one location, I receive different reports by email only a few minutes apart of different IP addresses having changed account info that - yes, I myself - instigated, I feel confused.
You say different user locations might return the above.
However: the user location is constant; the link up is constant hard wired (negating air signal hacking since blue-tooth and air signals are permanently switched off.) and so I thought I might expect a return of identicle IP addresses to my activity, especially within a short time frame and especially as none of them correlated with the number a google search returned me.
I suppose my question might be better, in the light of all the above expertise, phrased to ask, " Are there any circumstances under which one might receive identical IP address acknowledgements, when changing info on different accounts within minutes of each other?"
Interestingly, I changed info yet again on one account and the email this time made no mention of IP information whatsoever.
Further, what is the point of telling me the different IP addresses in the case where they are all different? Am I supposed to know what that means at all?
Interestingly, I changed info yet again on one account and the email this time made no mention of IP information whatsoever.
There is "No" standard. So different sites use different approaches for account modifications.
Further, what is the point of telling me the different IP addresses in the case where they are all different? Am I supposed to know what that means at all?
That specific site(s) is trying to give you feedback, to let you know that something in your account was changed, and if you did not do it, that you should be concerned. And then figure out your networking connections from your Mac through all the internet paths to the site. Not an easy thing to do.
In your case you "Did" make the changes, so you should not be surprised that the site told you a change has been made.
The only concern is that you cannot align the IP address with the IP address you think you are using. And to resolve that you would need to first know what algorithm the site was using to decide your origin IP address.
I suppose my question might be better, in the light of all the above expertise, phrased to ask, " Are there any circumstances under which one might receive identical IP address acknowledgements, when changing info on different accounts within minutes of each other?"
Well if you were using a VPN connection. If maybe you were using TOR (The Onion Router) to hide your presents on the internet (each connection may use a different end point in the TOR network).
And I do not understand "All" the mysteries of networking. I have maybe above average understanding, but not enough to figure out exactly why you get different confirmation IP addresses (which could be as simple as the site reporting the IP addresses is broken).
Yes it is a minefield to get a route through what is going on.
I checked on what on Earth broken IP addresses are and discovered that surveys piloted to get feedback from IP addresses in parts of Great Britain e.g. Ireland; return numerous IP responses from places such as Scotland even though it could not possibly apply to them. Learning this is to do with where major hubs are located adds further to the mystery.
What is the difference between those which return and accurate IP and those that return a "hub IP".
Seems noone really knows, else it would seem to be an avoidable issue, or one we could correct?
AT least I now know how much more I do not know than I did before I started, but with a few reasons as to why!
Thanks everyone for your kindness in responding!
IP problem
