In an earlier post we've discussed finding your real IP. A reader asked me how to actually hide your IP from the rest of the world.
Although I've answered in a comment, I thought the issue is worth a special post.
Hiding your IP affords you a) a semblance of privacy in the jungle the Internet has become and b) browsing to sites blocked by your network.
Essentially, there are 3 types of IP spoof/bypass/hiding mechanisms:
- Online - sites such as HideMyAss and Anonimyzer take the URL you want to get to and browse to it, showing you the content, thus achieving a + b.
Find some more sites here. - Proxy - a proxy program such as EFF's free TOR (The Onion Ring), allows you to browse to a network of anonymous computers, acting as your proxy.
Your IP will automatically change every several minutes. Someone actually took this idea a step further and built a version of FireFox with TOR embedded in it.
It used to be called TorPark, but is now a company called XeroBank and the browser is called XB Browser. - Spoofing software - such as Hide IP or Stealth Mode in your firewall (such as ZoneAlarm) - pay attention to the fact that this screws up file sharing software.
Interesting note: I tried using TOR in my office today and within 5 minutes someone called me from the security team, alerting me that my internal IP is about to be blocked,
since someone is using TOR on it. Clearly, TOR is easy to discover and will be blocked easily in the future :(
2 comments:
About #3. I use Agnitum Outpost Security Suite on my desktop, and I guess its firewall's stealth mode is cool (as other features like anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware). You really become invisible, so your IP is hidden for everyone. Did you test stealth mode in ZoneAlarm?
Yes I have and it works great - as long as you work from home. Inside intranet, it screws up a lot of things and actually forces you to use a VPN connection. Plus, according to some user groups, it screws up with some online games (which I don't play that often anyway).
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