# Tracking an Errant (Hacker Neighbor's) IP Address
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 11, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651 "2016-07-11T13:57:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/1 "2016-07-11T13:57:49Z")
I was doing some app additions to my really old PC and I found through _means_ that an errant Apple product has been back door accessing / hacking my system.
**I don’t HAVE any Apple products in this house.**
The report generated by _means_ lists the product, the source IP and the destination IP and the time.
The source IP seems like a BS router number… but could the destination IP be tracked?
Is there a web site where I can enter the destination IP that will tell me which one of my neighbors this Mother- _cough_ I mean… which neighbor deserves a Mellow-Greetings Social Call???
Also, could I just list the IP addresses here and say “Game On: Open Season”?
_Inquiring Minds_
🆒😃
_wow, just Look at him trying to get back in! Lots of slightly different source & destination IPs now. Look at that desperate mother-effer go…_
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/2 "2016-07-11T14:45:39Z")
Could you re-write this in English?
What are you trying to ask?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/3 "2016-07-11T14:47:43Z")
Why so cagey about what “means” you’re using?
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### Author:  [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/4 "2016-07-11T14:58:38Z")
Not having any Apple products doesn’t mean that you don’t have Apple applications. iTunes on your PC, for example?
Other examples might include VLC, VMWare, etc… (and hundreds of others).
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/5 "2016-07-11T15:36:16Z")
[Whois](https://www.findip-address.com/)search.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/6 "2016-07-11T15:48:50Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#):
>
> I was doing some app additions to my really old PC and I found through _means_ that an errant Apple product has been back door accessing / hacking my system.
Can you be more concrete here? What do you mean “accessing / hacking my system”?
Also…I’m unclear on your terminology. I would have thought that “source IP” refers to the origin of the packet and “destination IP” refers to the IP that the packet was directed to. But you seem to be using the terms differently.
> [@Count\_Blucher](#):
>
> Also, could I just list the IP addresses here and say “Game On: Open Season”?
That’s a violation of the SDMB rules, I would think. Also, they could just be connected through someone else’s hacked wifi or hijacked computer, so there’s no guarantee you’ve actually traced the attack to its real origin.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/7 "2016-07-11T15:54:03Z")
Did he try and log on to your wireless access point?
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/8 "2016-07-11T15:57:33Z")
**Moderator Note**
> [@Count\_Blucher](#):
>
> Also, could I just list the IP addresses here and say “Game On: Open Season”?
No, you may not.
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### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/9 "2016-07-11T16:06:49Z")
I investigate computer compromises for a living. I’d be happy to help, but I can’t really parse the OP. How do you know the suspect device is an Apple product? Where are you seeing the IP addresses? You say you want to track either the source or destination, but if _you’re_ being compromised, one side of the communication kind of has to be your IP. How do you know one of your neighbors is involved?
I’m not trying to be a dick, but if you want help, try again being less oblique.
But, in general, if you have just an IP address, you’re going to have a tough time following it back to an actual person. If you’re law enforcement, you can go to the ISP and get logs and such that might lead you to the actual person. If you’re a random schmo, probably not.
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/10 "2016-07-11T16:32:29Z")
> [@Bayard](#):
>
> But, in general, if you have just an IP address, you’re going to have a tough time following it back to an actual person. If you’re law enforcement, you can go to the ISP and get logs and such that might lead you to the actual person. If you’re a random schmo, probably not.
Additionally, if what you are trying to say is that someone connected to your Wifi without authorization through whatever means, that IP address you have will be one of _ **your** _ addresses, assigned by your router.
---
### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/11 "2016-07-11T16:52:40Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Could you re-write this in English?
> What are you trying to ask?
KK… dumbed-down…
Fuck-head neighbor has been hacking my PC.
I now have an App which identifies their Stinking Ass IP.
Has to be a neighbor, as my router only transmits 50-60 feet.
I was looking for a site that lets me ID and… Appropriately THANK… that neighbor…
…for being a Fuck-Tard and Hacking my PC.
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Did he try and log on to your wireless access point?
He was Completey Through my wireless point; he was well into my PC, and For Some Time.
I’ve blocked all the portals, except one or two (and I’ll change those soon).
> [@Bayard](#):
>
> I investigate computer compromises for a living. I’d be happy to help, but I can’t really parse the OP. How do you know the suspect device is an Apple product? Where are you seeing the IP addresses?
I would SO love to post a Nice Screen Shot of the software log and all the offending IP info… but I love posting here way to much and the Mods have already said “No”.
> [@Bayard](#):
>
> How do you know one of your neighbors is involved?
Well, the router only transmits about 50-60 feet. Assuming that I’m “Monkey in The Middle” that leaves maybe 8-10 possible houses. (I say 10 and not 8 because Two have weird CB-type Antennas attached to the shingles on their roofs, boosting their pick-up capability.
Other than that, no one except drive-byes could access the transmissions from my router.
> [@Bayard](#):
>
> I’m not trying to be a dick, but if you want help, try again being less oblique.
True, but if I say what I’m using here, and they are now reading here, whats to keep them from trying to code a work-around past that program?
> [@Bayard](#):
>
> But, in general, if you have just an IP address, you’re going to have a tough time following it back to an actual person. If you’re law enforcement, you can go to the ISP and get logs and such that might lead you to the actual person. If you’re a random schmo, probably not.
I appreciate the thought anyway.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/12 "2016-07-11T16:58:42Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> [Whois](https://www.findip-address.com/)search.
Thank You!
Its popping to
CityCupertino (20% confidence)
Metrocode807 (California, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose CA)
SubdivisionCalifornia (CA) (60% confidence)
CountryUnited States (US) (99% confidence)
Postalcode95014 (10% confidence)
ContinentNorth America (NA)
Time zoneAmerica/Los\_Angeles
…I’m pretty sure that you ALL know that I don’t live w/i 3000 miles of there…
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/13 "2016-07-11T16:58:56Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#):
>
> KK… dumbed-down…
>
> Fuck-head neighbor has been hacking my PC.
> I now have an App which identifies their Stinking Ass IP.
> Has to be a neighbor, as my router only transmits 50-60 feet.
> I was looking for a site that lets me ID and… Appropriately THANK… that neighbor…
> …for being a Fuck-Tard and Hacking my PC.
>
> He was Completey Through my wireless point; he was well into my PC, and For Some Time.
>
> I’ve blocked all the portals, except one or two (and I’ll change those soon).
> I would SO love to post a Nice Screen Shot of the software log and all the offending IP info… but I love posting here way to much and the Mods have already said “No”.
>
> Well, the router only transmits about 50-60 feet. Assuming that I’m “Monkey in The Middle” that leaves maybe 8-10 possible houses. (I say 10 and not 8 because Two have weird CB-type Antennas attached to the shingles on their roofs, boosting their pick-up capability.
> Other than that, no one except drive-byes could access the transmissions from my router.
>
> True, but if I say what I’m using here, and they are now reading here, whats to keep them from trying to code a work-around past that program?
>
> I appreciate the thought anyway.
_shrug_
I see no evidence here. Just a lot of unsupported assertions.
For instance, “your neighbor’s IP address.” Really? Somehow, you seem to have conflated the idea of wifi range and the proximity of your “attacker.” You do understand that the Internet Protocol means that your erstwhile hacker could just as easily be on the far side of the globe and still “touch you”, right?
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/14 "2016-07-11T17:02:21Z")
To put it as delicately and politely as possible, are you on any prescribed medications? Because on at least [two](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17863851#post17863851) [previous](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19343961#post19343961) occasions, you’ve made posts that sound, frankly, like someone who is off his meds, and this one does as well.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/15 "2016-07-11T17:04:33Z")
> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> _shrug_
>
> I see no evidence here. Just a lot of unsupported assertions.
>
> For instance, “your neighbor’s IP address.” Really? Somehow, you seem to have conflated the idea of wifi range and the proximity of your “attacker.” You do understand that the Internet Protocol means that your erstwhile hacker could just as easily be on the far side of the globe and still “touch you”, right?
So, you are saying that they are accessing me through my hard-line cable provider?
Or is this just ‘smoke’?
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/16 "2016-07-11T17:05:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> To put it as delicately and politely as possible, are you on any prescribed medications? Because on at least [two](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17863851#post17863851) [previous](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19343961#post19343961) occasions, you’ve made posts that sound, frankly, like someone who is off his meds, and this one does as well.
Well, too damn bad. Screen shots & logs don’t lie.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/17 "2016-07-11T17:12:31Z")
OK, well if someone is accessing your WiFi network, you can lock down your wireless access point/router so that only the MAC addresses of your devices can connect to it.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/18 "2016-07-11T17:20:36Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#):
>
> Well, too damn bad. Screen shots & logs don’t lie.
What exactly is the evidence that someone accessed/hacked your computer? Based on what you’ve written so far, I think it would be useful to help understand what is actually going on.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/19 "2016-07-11T17:22:42Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> What exactly is the evidence that someone accessed/hacked your computer?
Sent to a Mod by PM, so the Board knows it Exists.
---
### Author:  [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracking-an-errant-hacker-neighbors-ip-address/759651/20 "2016-07-11T17:24:19Z")
# My attempt to understand the OP:
I installed an app on an old computer. Some application noted traffic that appears to be from an Apple device. The app generated a report which has the source IP of the Apple device, the destination of the traffic and the time.
Can I track this?
============
First, how are you seeing the traffic? If you have Wireshark or a similar program setup to connect to your router that is one thing. If you have ‘Extremely Important Security WARNING!!?!??!! YOU’VE BEEN HACKED!!?!’ message from whichever software you installed, that is something totally different.
Next, devices and applications will broadcast on the network. For example, I believe that Itunes broadcasts. What that means is the Itunes app will send a message to every other device on the local network. Any device that is configured to listen for the broadcast will respond, like any other PC with ITunes installed. That may or may not be a sign of a problem.
Additionally, what is the IP of the device you are seeing? Your home network (most likely) will be doing some form of Network Address Translastion (nat). What that means is that your router will get an IP address. That IP address will be a public address. All traffic going out will use Network Address Translastion, most likely pat (Port Address Translation) because the IP of your computer will be in the private network range (most likely 192.168.x.x)
What that means is this. Your router will have an address like 123.123.123.123. Your PC will have an address like 192.168.1.20. When your PC goes out to the internet, the request to the outside world from the IP address 123.123.123.123. The router keeps a table that sez device 192.168.1.20 sent a request on port 80 going to [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com). So the [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) sees a request come in on port 80 from 123.123.123.123 and sends the information back to 123.123.123.123. Then the router at 123.123.123.123 sez, I got data back on port 80 from 123.123.123.123. Looking at my table, that request actually came from 192.168.1.20, so I will send the data to 192.168.1.20. A bit more complicated than that, but that is the basics. The big thing is that your PC, 192.168.x.x, cannot directly talk to anything that is not on the same 192.168.x.x network. To talk to devices on other networks there will be routing and/or NAT. (I would be extrememly surprised if you have a one to one nat)
The reason that matters is that on your local network your ought to only see things in the 192.168.x.x range that your PC is on. So to dig deeper we need the IP of your local machine and the machine that is ‘hacking’ you. To get your IP, hold down the Windows key and press R. In the run box type in cmd and click ok. In the dos window that appears type in ipconfig /all and post the info.
Slee
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