Is it bad to expose your IP address?

Should your IP address be visible?

If the internet address is visible in the clear it can be identified as coming from you and the person(s) using it may start to associate your IP with you (even if you didn't set it up). That may be enough for spam filters to target you or maybe, even to censor your access.

I'd suggest making it impossible to identify your real IP address. This can be done by creating a "VPN" or Proxy server that masks your public IP address and provides you with a different one for your device. There are many VPN providers who provide this kind of service.

Is it your intent to control what traffic you receive? In the context of a mail server I'm assuming that it's also being used to provide access to mail accounts. The server provider should have tools that limit the number of concurrent connections per IP address. This may allow the provider to more easily enforce acceptable use policies on IPs that they can identify are yours. As a general purpose mail server there may not be such tools.

Here are a few references for things to read about. The following is from a company which sells a virtual Private Network. The link above provides a description of how a VPN functions. A little deeper than a summary provided here and it gets into more detail as well.

Is it bad to expose your IP address?

I've been using the public proxy service Proxic for years and am just starting to realize what a good service it is.

What worries me is that I use my IP address to access the web, and if someone were to connect to my IP address then they'd know where I'm accessing the internet from and my geographical location.

I know the only way to have a secure connection is to use SSL, but I would hate to have to remember all the websites I use to change the protocol, as there are so many. For example I have a list of over 100, and I don't want to remember to change them all to SSL.

I have also heard that people are concerned about people like hackers or ISPs spying on their activities, or people trying to gain information about them. If you visit you can see my IP address, as it's listed as: (192.168.3) which makes me feel a bit better.

Do any of you use a public proxy service? If so what are your thoughts on the above? I have been using a public proxy for several years now. It's usually very handy, but I found it a little bit disturbing when I first started using it that I exposed my IP address. I think my proxy server uses Tor and I was using the same IP address as the Tor website. I had no idea at the time, but I probably had no privacy. That said, I do not think it is a good idea to use a public proxy if you care about privacy and security.

The main reason I use a public proxy is that I sometimes use Tor for work and it's really slow. I have a list of over 100 domains that I use, but not all of them support HTTPS, so I'd have to remember to change them. The main reason I don't use a public proxy if I need security is because it doesn't use SSL. Also, when I'm using my work proxy and a private proxy, they only share the IP address if I'm using both at the same time.

I have an iPhone and I have a 3G data plan, so it's expensive to have a public proxy. I don't think it's worth it, as I'd rather spend money on internet access instead of buying more phone data.

Should your IP address be private?

This week, I'll give you the rundown of how to make sure your IP address is private.

What is your IP address? You may know your IP address from browsing the web or doing online banking. If you have a landline phone, it will have an IP address assigned to it. If you use a mobile phone, you can get the number and IP address of your mobile phone, as well as the cell tower your phone is connected to. Your home router will often have an IP address assigned to it that other devices on your network can use to communicate with it. Your router may also have a public IP address, which is used for communication between the public internet and your router. This is not the same as your home IP address.

There are also other devices on your home network that can have an IP address. A media device, for example, will often have a specific IP address assigned to it.

An IP address is a number that uniquely identifies a computer or network on the internet. When you browse the web or download a file, your browser or web server uses your IP address to communicate with the servers that provide the content. The same thing happens when you send an email. The SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) uses your IP address to reach the SMTP server that handles email for the domain you're trying to send the email to.

What happens when your IP address is exposed? Let's say you're connected to the internet through a wireless router at home, and you go outside. The signal from your router has an IP address. If a hacker or a network security device was watching your router, they would be able to see your IP address and see who's connected to your home network.

This can allow a hacker to target you by sending emails or other content to your home email address or phone number. Or it could allow hackers to use your computer to hack into your other computers on your home network.

Your IP address isn't secret, but it can still be helpful to protect you. How can you make your IP address private? Your first step is to figure out which devices have an IP address assigned to them. If you don't know, you can check out your router.

Is it OK if someone knows my IP address?

Yes, it's OK.

The IP address is an identifier, not a secret. If the computer you are on is shared between many people, it's perfectly fine if they can see that it belongs to you. They can even use that information to find out which other computers are on the same network, but you don't have to be afraid that someone will try to use that information to access your computer or other computers that you share.

There is a certain risk that the owner of the computer you are on will see that you are using an IP address that is associated with a website that he doesn't like, but this is not a problem. The only way for him to know if you are using a website that he doesn't like is if he is the administrator of the computer you are on.