Explain IP address details please?

[INDY GS]

So I help run a small message board, and we recently had to ban a user. I suspect it was someone posting as two alias, but I can't tell for sure except that the IP address is the same on the posts. Is the IP address unique to the individual or to the service provider. Will banning this one alias, bann anyone posting from that provider? Just a tad confused.

Thanks.

[Blurred]

Certain users get an ip address assigned to them each time, others have the same one until shit gets reset or what not.

Ban by the email address they signed up with. That makes it clean and easy.

[INDY GS]

But is it possible for two different people to have the same IP address within 20 minutes of each post?

[wi3dzmin]

McPoser should be familiar with this... hit him up.

[dirtybryan]

Basically the only way it could back fire is:
If you have two users posting from the same connection. I.e. two users who work at the same company that share a connection. Two people who live in the same house etc...

If the IP address is dynamically given to the user. Many ISPs will change your IP on a regular basis (dial up very often, typical cable/dsl connection maybe one every month or couple months).

If in the unlikely chance a good users IP is changed to the bad users IP, which would be like 1 in 256^6.

[pechelman]

But is it possible for two different people to have the same IP address within 20 minutes of each post?

possible?
yes

likely?
no

if the users IP address was 192.168.10.5
start by banning that address
if you start to see more on the 192.168.10.* addresses doing stupid stuff, ban that whole Network Portion
ie ban 192.168.10.*

you shouldnt need to go any higher than that, and if you do, you risk banning a good number of folks.

[jfost]

you shouldnt need to go any higher than that, and if you do, you risk banning a good number of folks.

yep, ban 192.*.*.*

that should take care of it!

[fez]

but of course that only works if your luser isnt smart enough to understand open proxies and how to find/use one.

[INDY GS]

Thanks, We know who the one user is, and I had suspected the second was the same, but before pointing fingers wanted to make sure we were armed with intelligent data.

[yooper]

Thanks, We know who the one user is, and I had suspected the second was the same, but before pointing fingers wanted to make sure we were armed with intelligent data.

Dude, you're banning me? AND my evil alter-ego?

[RShea]

But is it possible for two different people to have the same IP address within 20 minutes of each post?

Possible, but not probable. The ISP controls the IP addresses and assigns them to the users connected. The biggest variable is how the user connects. It they have high speed (get the IP address and go to search to see the provider- if it is a cable company or DSL provider then they probably ARE the same connection - but not always the same computer or user.) and you can ban them based on that IP.

Situation could be that they are on a dial-up connection. Typical dial-up will have a bank of modems for multiple users to dial in on. They are on automatic roll over and you do not get the same one and therefore the IP address will change slightly. First time you connect you get say (made up address for example only) 64.24.120.25 and then you hang up. After a few minutes you dial back out and get a new address of 64.24.120.38.

Now for high speed connections- they many times have the majority of users on dynamic IP addresses. They can change at any time- but most of the time they will either change at some periodic setting (their computers issue an IP least via DHCP) and this could be hourly (not likely) daily, or some much longer interval. If they do not force a change in the DHCP lease, then you could have the same address for months from some providers. You can release the address and get a new one with some tricks, or sometimes you can call the ISP and ask for a new IP address. It will still be in the same block of addresses but the physical number is going to be different unless they are set up with a static address (more common for higher end business accounts- or some ISP's will provide a static IP for a monthly fee added to the bill). And as someone has already mentioned there are proxy servers out there that can be used to hide the real address.

So if you understand that the IP address means that at the particular time- it is tied to only a single connection (but could be multiple computers using that connection) and in a few days that same idiot could be using another IP address, then IP banning can be only a temporary solution. (After all if you ban their home computer, what is to stop them from using a system at work or somewhere else.) But, at the same time, email banning can be just as futile since you can go get a new email address in about 2 minutes at thousands of free emails sites like hotmail, google mail, etc.

Ban them by IP address may be enough, banning them by the email address and IP is a little more effective, but if they want to come back there are ways for them to fool the system unless you really demand and verify quite a bit of information about the users.

[RShea]

possible?
yes

likely?
no

if the users IP address was 192.168.10.5
start by banning that address
if you start to see more on the 192.168.10.* addresses doing stupid stuff, ban that whole Network Portion
ie ban 192.168.10.*

you shouldnt need to go any higher than that, and if you do, you risk banning a good number of folks.

Your example is a bad one unless you are a local network administrator and wanting to ban a user inside your companies network. The reason is
192.168.x.x is a private address that would never be seen on the internet which uses public IP addresses.

If you want to ban, look up either the IP address and ban all users on that ISP (but if it is a big company like Verizon or Comcast, etc. you will be risking banning many legitimate users too) or you can ban by country - to block spammers or hackers from a country.

Start by doing a look-up and see who the provider is:
http://www.arin.net/whois/ or
http://www.ipgp.net/ are examples of sites that can tell you quite a bit about an IP address. (There are others too out there that will provide lists by ISP etc.)

If they are doing something that is against the ISP's terms of service (like trying to hack) then contact their ISP to see if they will help in any way too.

[RShea]

But is it possible for two different people to have the same IP address within 20 minutes of each post?

Possible, but not probable. The ISP controls the IP addresses and assigns them to the users connected. The biggest variable is how the user connects. It they have high speed (get the IP address and go to search to see the provider- if it is a cable company or DSL provider then they probably ARE the same connection - but not always the same computer or user.) and you can ban them based on that IP.

Situation could be that they are on a dial-up connection. Typical dial-up will have a bank of modems for multiple users to dial in on. They are on automatic roll over and you do not get the same one and therefore the IP address will change slightly. First time you connect you get say (made up address for example only) 64.24.120.25 and then you hang up. After a few minutes you dial back out and get a new address of 64.24.120.38.

Now for high speed connections- they many times have the majority of users on dynamic IP addresses. They can change at any time- but most of the time they will either change at some periodic setting (their computers issue an IP least via DHCP) and this could be hourly (not likely) daily, or some much longer interval. If they do not force a change in the DHCP lease, then you could have the same address for months from some providers. You can release the address and get a new one with some tricks, or sometimes you can call the ISP and ask for a new IP address. It will still be in the same block of addresses but the physical number is going to be different unless they are set up with a static address (more common for higher end business accounts- or some ISP's will provide a static IP for a monthly fee added to the bill).

So if you understand that the IP address means that at the particular time- it is tied to only a single connection (but could be multiple computers using that connection) and in a few days that same idiot could be using another IP address, then IP banning can be only a temporary solution. (After all if you ban their home computer, what is to stop them from using a system at work or somewhere else.) But, at the same time, email banning can be just as futile since you can go get a new email address in about 2 minutes at thousands of free emails sites like hotmail, google mail, etc.

Ban them by IP address may be enough, banning them by the email address and IP is a little more effective, but if they want to come back there are ways for them to fool the system unless you really demand and verify quite a bit of information about the users.

[snipershot]

An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device (e.g., computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing. If you want know the details of your ip address try this ip-details.com

[nyskirat]

This thread is three years old JONG.