Static IP addresses

[CurlyWhirly]

I am thinking about migrating to Zen next month when my current 12 month contract is up.
I notice that they use static IP addresses!

I know that Zen is primarily a business ISP but surely there is a security risk for the home user or am I safe because I am behind a router

 

[CurlyWhirly]

Thanks Tolien

Nothing to worry about then.

 

[CurlyWhirly]

Just make sure you have a good firewall.....

I have the router firewall and also McAfee personal firewall as well.
I think it's best to have both a software firewall and a hardware firewall isn't it?

Incidentally, I found out that the router firewall was off by default when I checked out the homepage

i dont understand why isps bother with dynamic ips? surly its more work that way as they would have to log who had what ip at what time?

I can believe that as in the event of the ISP having to release logged details of an individual (because he or she has been sharing copyrighted material for example) then it must be a nightmare especially for large ISP's like AOL who have millions of customers worldwide!

 

[CurlyWhirly]

Its a legacy thing, back in the days of dial up the ISP's didn’t have enough IP's for all there customers so they did it dynamically. I presume this isn’t the case any more because broadband is always on.

So that's how dynamic IP addresses came about then.

No more so than with a dynamic IP...

But surely a static IP address is more at risk from hackers or is this a myth and home PC's are rarely targetted

I have always had dynamic IP's.

 

[CurlyWhirly]

The only added "safety" with a dynamic IP is that you're a moving target.

I was wondering, as I am now behind a router (I used to use a USB modem) can my IP address be seen to other internet users or is it hidden behind the router as Tolien mentioned in a previous post that NAT will still offer limited protection even if the router firewall is off (as it was by default as already mentioned).

 

[CurlyWhirly]

It's a complete myth - because most of the worms et al are scanning entire subnets, so a dynamic IP isn't going to help you.

Fair enough but what about hackers?

Surely having a static IP address makes it easier for them to find you or is it that routers are designed not to reply to pings making you 'invisible' on the internet?

 

[CurlyWhirly]

NAT offers plenty of protection. It completely "hides" your internal LAN computers from the Internet (provided you don't map any ports.)

I wouldn't know how to map any ports anyway!

How can NAT hide my PC when my IP address is visible

The "firewall" on most consumer routers is best turned off anyway. Most of the time it just causes stability issues, clogs up the router log with false alerts, or hogs memory/CPU time that is better spent on (surprise surprise) performing routing... or the NAT table (more P2P connections...)

So I should go back to the Homepage and disable it then should I

 

[CurlyWhirly]

Because the IP address that's visible is your router's.

Ah, I understand now

Routers are new to me so please forgive my ignorance

 

[CurlyWhirly]

IMO yes. It does naff'all except create paranoia for users who don't really know what it's doing in the first place.

I take it you mean this (taken from the intrusion log):



As you can see, not many attacks!

Standard disclaimers apply though. I.e. you can't sue me if you get hacked/wormed somehow

Best I leave the firewall on then


Anyway, to summarise I have now learnt that static IP addresses are safe and so if and when I migrate to Zen next month, I shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Thanks to everyone who replied