Spoof my IP – How to Protect IP from Spoofing

When you are online, your IP address remains a significant detail of your online identity. It can also be revealed or stolen. In such a case, your private information can be stolen as well. Moreover, your traffic can be fully intercepted. It means the hackers will be able to steal your sensitive information. Even the worst situation can occur. Hackers can use your online identity information to commit various cybercrimes. This particular IP stealing attack is called IP spoofing. You need to learn more about IP spoofing to be able to protect yourself. It is better to prevent your IP stealing than to deal with the unpleasant consequences.

IP Spoofing Definition – How to Protect Yourself

The best way to protect yourself from cyberattacks is to be prepared. You need to learn first what IP spoofing is. IP spoofing is a situation when hackers change the IP address of a data package to a fake one. They choose to make a fake address appear like a valid one. Hackers can use another strategy as well. They can simply mask the receiver’s IP address in its place. What makes the hackers’ actions with IP address faking possible on the Internet?

Mechanism of Data Transfer Through TCP/IP Protocols

When you send or receive information online, your traffic is always divided into small packages of data. Every particular package is sent separately. Once reaching their destination, all the packages are gathered by the receiver’s device or in some cases, by websites’ servers. Every sent package of information has a peculiar IP header with the exact IP address of the source and the receiver. TCP/IP protocols transfer the packages in normal circumstances.

Still, such protocols have weak points. There is a three-way TCP handshake you should pay attention to when sending or receiving information. In short, the three-step transferring includes the following directions:

• First, a SYN message is sent to the receiver by the source. This assures the synchronization of sequence numbers between two parties.
• Next, the receiver sends an ACK message – it is a confirmation of receiving the SYN message.
• Finally, the SYN-ACK message is sent by the source to the receiver, and a secure connection is confirmed.

How IP Spoofing Operates – Details

IP spoofing is an illegal attack. The hackers intercept the TCP handshake before the final step before the source sends the SYN-ACK message. They sent a fake confirmation with their devices’ MAC address and a changed IP address. In the end, the receiver is sure of getting data from a legitimate source. They do not understand that the data is sent not from an original sender. Even being exposed to the cyber-attack, they do not see any signs of dealing with the fake spoofed IP address.

Key Dangers of IP Spoofing

Hackers can cause lots of problems when they create bogus IP addresses. They know numerous ways to use spoofing for quite malicious purposes. It is easy for them to attack individuals, applications, or servers. The following are the top malicious uses of IP spoofing by hackers.

Firewall and IP Authorization Bypassing

Hackers often come up with IP address spoofing to bypass certain security measures. They often try to bypass firewalls that contain their original address in the blacklist. It means, even if the attacker’s real address is blocked, with spoofed fake IP addresses, they gain access to needed servers and applications. They also reach numerous servers that allow only “reliable” IP addresses. Experienced hackers can use a spoofed IP to get into your computer. Once they access your computer, they can do what they like. Thus, your entire information and identifications can be compromised. This is the reason why companies should forget about relying on IP authorization. They should use more advanced methods of authentication.

Denial of Service Attacks

During the Denial of Service (DoS)/Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), the attacked website or server faces a crushing amount of fake requests. As a result, the website or server is brought down. Often, the infected devices sent this huge suspicious amount of fake requests. Mostly, botnet worms infect the mentioned devices. Hackers can send out millions of fake requests to the server and spoofs the IP address once the servers send responses to the victim’s device. Thus, practically anyone can get your IP address which can lead to bad consequences.

Main-in-the-middle (MITM)

These are quite popular attacks. Especially when users deal with the public or other unsecured Wi-Fi connections, the hackers can intercept your communications and gain access to your sensitive private information. The hacker’s device can be set between the server and the victim’s device. Thus, the information you share when on an unsecured Wi-Fi connection is never safe. Even if some of your private data is intercepted, hackers can try to break into your accounts. In such a case, VPN can be the best solution. The VeePN is a special protection tool that allows preventing hackers’ attacks when on unsecured Wi-Fi.

IP Spoofing – Legal Matters and Prevention

IP spoofing is not illegal when you are not aimed at using a fake IP address for malicious purposes. In fact, you can change your IP address once using VPN. It is completely legal. Often, websites create fake users to reform certain online tests. Still, IP spoofing is completely illegal when someone fakes his identity and tries to proceed with cybercrimes.

To prevent yourself from IP spoofing negative consequences, you should check the following methods of protection:

• Constantly monitor networks for unusual activity;
• Use advanced authentication and verification methods;
• Check your firewall and place the sensitive assets behind it;
• Transfer certain websites from IPv4 to IPv6;
• Use advanced antivirus software;
• Use Deep Packet Inspection (DPI);
• Prefer visiting only secure websites;
• Use advanced VPN protection.

VeePN can be a great solution for numerous online security issues. It allows encrypting your traffic, keeping your identity hidden, and protecting your sensitive private information. VeePN greatly improves your security measures against cyber-attacks. Besides, it protects you from malicious websites that can expose you to IP spoofing attacks.