Every day we use the internet to communicate, exchange information, work, play and spend our free time.
The devices we use to connect to the internet are now many; we move from traditional PC, to smartphones and tablets, to routers, up to many state-of-the-art appliances.
To ensure that all these devices communicate correctly with each other without creating malfunctions or interference, it is necessary to assign each of them a code that unequivocally distinguishes them from all the others connected at that particular moment; this code is called IP address.
An IP address, IP Address or simply IP (acronym for Internet Protocol), is therefore a numerical code that uniquely identifies any device connected to a computer network that uses the internet protocol as a net.
IPv4 and IPv6 versions
There are two standard versions used for IP addresses: version 4 Ipv4 and version 6 Ipv6.
Until now, most IP addresses used version 4 but, for some time now, given the exponential growth of networked equipment, the transition to a more powerful standard, such as the more modern IPv6, is almost obliged.
This is because IPv4 technology, which uses 32-bit binary encoding, is more limited and allows you to assign a maximum of 4,294,967,296 addresses; the more modern IPv6 standard uses, instead, a 128 bit binary encoding, allowing to assign an extremely higher number of addresses (equal to 340 trillion unique IP addresses).
Assagnation of an IP address
When we connect a certain device to the internet, our connectivity provider automatically assigns a unique and univocal IP address to the new host.
From this moment it will be possible to use the device to exchange information with other devices connected to the network in the form of data packets.
Dynamic and Static IP
IP addresses can be dynamic or static.
The first case is certainly the most common: the device, at each new connection, obtains a new dynamically generated IP address.
This happens every time we connect to the internet with our mobile phone or when we turn on the router to connect to the network with the home PC.
In the second case, however, we speak of static IP when the provider assigns a specific address to our device, which therefore will not change over time but will remain fixed.
This system is best suited for large companies that have semi-permanent devices with a permanent IP address.
On the IT security side, we can certainly say that assigning a static IP makes the device more prone to cyber attacks.
Find your IP address
It often happens that you need to find the IP address assigned to your PC or device connected to the network.
There are several methods to solve this problem, but the fastest is certainly to contact one of the many online services that perform this task.
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Find the IP from online services
National services
Below you can find some of the best sites that offer this service for free:
My IP address
www.ilmioindirizzoip.it
My- IP.it
www.mio-ip.it
My IP
www.mio-ip.eu
International services
WhatIsMyIPAddress
www.whatismyipaddress.com
WhatIsMyIP
www.whatismyip.com
For those using a Windows PC
Find the IP from the Network and Sharing Center
If you use Windows you can also find your IP address by clicking on start > Settings > Network and Sharing Center > Connections to the local area network (LAN) > Details.
In the window that opens you will find all the information relating to your IP.
An even faster solution is to right-click the icon (located at the bottom of the screen in the “Taskbar”) “Internet access” > Open Network and Sharing Center > Connections to the local area network (LAN) > Details.
Find the IP from the Command Prompt
Un metodo alternativo risulta quello di utilizzare il Prompt dei Comandi di Windows digitando il comando ipconfig.
Anche in questo caso ti apparirà una finestra nella quale troverai i dati relativi al tuo IP.
Finding the IP address of a website
You may need to know the address of your website or another site you manage.
Here's how to do it if you have a Windows PC
- open the command prompt by typing cmd in the Windows search box
- type ping www. SiteName. est or ping SiteName. east
(ATTENTION: do not leave the space between www and the dot, between the dot and the NomeSito, between the NomeSito and the dot and between the dot and the extension of the domain – I only left them so as not to make the link linkable).
Safety
Through the IP address it is possible to trace and contact your device when it is on the network, since the data is in the public domain.
Even if you may not think about it, at any stage of the connection we could therefore be the victim of some attacker who would aspire to steal our computer data.
For this reason it is better to protect yourself in the best way by having a powerful FIREWALL that is able to repel possible intruders.
