Ip and forums

hey m8s

is there somehow some1 can log onto a forum and post and when they check is ip that it is mine ip that shows even tho it was some1 else that posted and not from my computer?

like maybe with a prog or something.

thanks on beforehand m8ts

Welcome to AO... It is possible, I am sure that a lot of people can explain it better than I could... but it is called ip spoofing... google it...

proxy ? woldnt they have to know your IP first to "spoof" and post with your IP....

so if they knew it they could post and it would show as my ip??

Sounds like a trick to me, but if the forums display ips, which some do... then they could wait for you to post and grab the recent ip. Though this would show as your ip it shouldnt enable them to post as you under your account on the forums. If someone is spoofing your IP, you should first renew your connections ip if possible and then inform the forums admins of what has occured. If your lucky they will investigate it as far as they are able to.

Spoofing a complete TCP connection sufficient to impersonate your IP address from a different address is far from trivial. If someone could do that then you probably have much bigger problems than them posting "from" your IP address.

Now, if your box is an open proxy or the "attacker" has some form of access to your box that allows him to use your IP address as if it was his own.... This is a much more likely and easier to accomplish way of appearing to be you.

Yeah was just about to say that TS, if someone has gone through all that trouble and managed to spoof you IP, chances are he will be buying a nice new farrari with someone elses CC number - not posting on a web forum!

Chances are that you and the person who is supposedly posting as you are both going through the same proxy, so the IP would show up at the forum the same. For example, at school you are on a lab system and your nemesis is on another one. Since you are likely going through the same firewall/proxy on the school's network, the proxy IP will show up as the originating IP number at the forum.

Clear?

Just my tuppence.

Wouldn't they also have to have his user name and password or access to a forum set "cookie" with his user name and password?

Depending on the environment (maybe as described), getting the userID and PW for the forum could be trivial. In my past life, dealing with students who gave up that information on a regular basis was a daily task.

Or, it is possible that nuthin left a system logged in and someone came behind him/her and posted. There are just so many possibilites. And, it is such a target rich environment!

;)