Privacy/Security: How to change my IP address daily or weekly on DSL

How you get assigned an IP address is up to your provider.

Changing your IP address adds neither to your privacy nor to your security. Just spare yourself the trouble.

cu

Aluxe wrote in news:86jz6dn13k6c$. snipped-for-privacy@40tude.net:

The way you're doing it is about the only way it can be done.

Dial-up.

A pointless waste of time and effort, giving you neither privacy or security.

What the hell do you think you're protecting yourself against ?

First - what do you seek to accomplish by the frequent changes? Being on a different IP address each day (or week) does not, in itself, make you any more (or any less) secure. This kind of activity may lead your ISP to suspect that you are either paranoid or have something illegal to hide. If an attacker has found you either the damage has already been done, or your security measures have prevented any damage and will prevent any future damage from that attacker. Take a close look at what security benefit you think you will achieve - and 'feeling more secure' does not count as a benefit

The IP address assignment is often a function of your MAC address and the IP address lease policy of your ISP, and may not respond well to this kind of manipulation. Also, check your router documentation - there is often a command to obtain a new lease.

Stuart

All of that above with you trying to come-up with a new IP on some kind of periodic basis with a machine or machines setting behind a Linksys router is too ridiculous and funny.

You don't pay your bill, you get your service cut-off, you pay the bill, you get service turned on and you will for sure get a new IP from the ISP.

Other than that, get a dial-up service which will change the IP each time you dial-up to the ISP.

I suggest you stop turning things such as a modem and router on/off on some kind of routine basis as it can only lead to equipment failure if you continue it.

You don't have anything running on your set-up that would cause someone to lock in on the IP and try to come past the router. Your set-up is below small potatoes, the potatoes don't exist and no one cares. ;-)

Duane :)

Hi Ansgar, Thanks for your attempt at help. I appreciate your time. My IP obviously "lends" me an IP address for a period of time. I can tell because if I link right back up, I get the "same" IP address. But if I wait long enough (say an hour) I get a "different" IP address.

All I'm trying to do is get a different IP address in an easier (read software) way.

Hi Lil' Abner, Thank you for taking the time to try to advise a fellow computer user. I was hoping that there was a simple software way to lose the lease on the IP address and then come back an hour later and regain the lease.

I have a few computers on the home network, so I wonder if I go to each and do an ipconfig /release it would work?

Do you think that will work?

Is there a better software way to give up an IP address for an hour or two and then ask for a new one from the ISP (no, dialup isn't an answer)?

I do use dial-up on occasion. Netzero can be used when you need to send those private message you don't want anyone to trace. But dialup is painfully slow compared to dsl.

Isn't there a software way to give up an IP address overnight and then ask for a new one in the morning without having to unplug everything?

All security is pointless if you think your way. There are big things you can do to raise security and little things.

Big things are obvious (like locking your car doors or not doing personal email at work).

But, little security measures add up too.

Each little thing (like rolling up your windows or like driving a different way to work each day) helps turn off the bad guy who is looking for an easy steal.

Some of the little things, like changing your MAC address, WPA keys, login, password, and IP address periodically are well known and often advocated.

Why do you think only big security measures are useful?

A little script will do this.

You may get the same IP from your ISP

The question remains, why do you think it is needed to get a different IP address.

Hi Stuart,

Thank you for taking the time to ask a probing question. I understand the concept of security in that it comprises little things and big things together.

Adding big things, like turning on a firewall, using strong encryption, shutting down the computer when not in use, etc. are, of course, additive to security.

Little things, like changing the password, changing the MAC address, changing the SSID, changing the IP address, etc., are also additive to security.

The whole point is to make the bad guys do more work to follow your footsteps and invade on your privacy.

For example, I seal my snail mail. I lick that horrid tasting envelope and I shut it down tight. Do I think that will stop a determined snooper. No way. But I do it as a "little thing" to enhance my security.

Anyone who seals their envelope should understand why I'd want to change my IP address periodically.

The question is "What is the easiest way to release that lease on the IP address such that it is easy to regain a new IP address in a few hours' time?".

There is really no need to do that. What are you trying to accomplish, we may have a different solution for you.

Hi Duane, Thank you for taking the time to advise me.

All I'm asking is for the easiest software way to change my IP address without having to give up the lease by shutting down all the equipment.

It's the unsuspecting little old lady who gets hit the hardest. I used to not lock my car until I got my car seat stolen! Yes. A baby seat stolen in a mall parking lot! A little thing like locking my doors or rolling up my windows could have prevented that (and made the car-seat thief go elsewhere for an easier picking).

I lick and seal my envelopes before mailing them. Do I think that will stop a determined thief? Nope. But it will stop a lot of them. Why do you think credit card companies send you the card in a plain envelope and not one emblazened with the credit company logo on the outside? Little things enhance security (sometimes more than the big obvious things). Let the thief go elsewhere.

Same with periodically changing my MAC address, my SSID, my encryption keys, my login, my password, and my IP address.

There must be an easier way to give up a lease without having to shut down the router and dsl modem ... isn't there?

Getting a different ip address every couple of hours is not one of them. A decent firewall is all you need, and zone alarm has a free one for home use. If you are more concerned about being annoymous on the internet, check into proxy connections to the internet. You can do a google on anonymous browsing or related search and find all kind of proxy servers.

I have not seen where people have advocated changing their mac addresses or ip addresses is a good security practice. I have seen spammers, mass mailers, and other unsavory characters use those techniques to try to hide.

| Hi Stuart, |

Please remove alt.privacy.spyware as there is no non-viral malware relation to this thread.

Hi Dana,

I want to enhance my privacy in a lot of little ways.

For example, do you know who I REALLY am? My name. My address. My employer. My ISP. My phone. My MAC ID. My SSID. My IP address. My operating system. My habits. My country of origin. My newsreader, My spouse. My school. My bank. etc.

Some of these things, you DO know!

For example, you can easily see my ISP and my newsreader and my IP address ... and if you dig a bit further, you can connect to some of the rest of the things in this list above (and more). Just like a carnivore, tracking down prey. A whole bunch of little clues lead to the unsuspecting clueless innocent prey.

I just want to change my tracks by changing my IP address in an easier way (read software rather than hardware) than shutting down the dsl modem and router.

Is there an easier way to release an IP address to gain a new one a few hours later (say overnight)?

Take a look at these links

Hi Dana, Thank you again for your willingness to help approach a technical problem.

Previously I answered (as best I could) WHY I want to do this small bit of privacy enhancement (it's similar to the reason there are little walls between telephones attached to a hotel lobby).

A lot of little things enhance privacy and security; changing ones IP address periodically is a little change of direction that helps prevent carnivores from tracking down their innocent sleeping prey.

Back to the technical aspect of the problem ... I found that I need at least an hour of down time before the ISP will release the lease on the IP address. That's OK as I generally do it overnight (which always gets me a new IP address).

So, let's assume that, say, 5 hours of down time always gets me a new IP. What is a software way to accomplish that task (bearing in mind there is a dsl modem and linksys router in between the computers and the ISP).

Do you think that writing a script to run an "ipconfig /release" on every WinXP computer inside the home network would cause the ISP to release the IP address. Wouldn't the DSL modem or router (which dials back periodically into the ISP) maintain the connection even without computers on the home side?

Is there a way to tell the linksys router to only dial in when we want to (without shutting it down which is what I do today to accomplish the same task)?

The technical solution must be out there ... does anyone know enough about home networks to help out?