Hacking?

[clylbw]

I know I am being paranoid, but I always wonder the following. When I visit them, many websites identify my computer's IP. Do they store this information?

If they do, and someone obtains my computer's IP from them, is it possible then for he/she to hack into my system and take what he/she wants in my machine?

Many thanks.

 

[Glenn]

Have you read the knowledge lab article ?
www.grc.com etc.
Glenn

 

[rossored]

IPs are easily read by web applications, but you are far more at risk from, for example, port scanning whilst just surfing than from someone who reads your IP from a database or web application. All an IP address is is your computer's address on the internet, and most IP addresses are dynamic, which means they change each time you log on, although not all - it depends on your ISP.

Make sure you've got a decent firewall (sygate, zone alarm etc - chuck the WinXP one in the bin), test it occasionally at the link Glenn's given you, and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

 

[roguetrader]

I know I am being paranoid, but I always wonder the following. When I visit them, many websites identify my computer's IP. Do they store this information?

If they do, and someone obtains my computer's IP from them, is it possible then for he/she to hack into my system and take what he/she wants in my machine?

Many thanks.

I believe all websites will identify your IP address, when you visit a website you are requesting information, if they did not read your IP address they would not be able to send that information to you and you therefore could not browse. It is not something to be concerned about.

 

[clylbw]

Thanks.