Hiding IP address using Speedstream modem

[Trio3b]

Newb here. All connections fine but I would like to surf more anonymously. Somewhere here there is an answer. just not finding it!

PCLOS 2009 w/ FF 3.5.3

hdwr is a seimens speedstream 4100 using ATT/Yahoo ISP  Att tech support indicates this is NOT a router.

Just discovered that this modem has an option to:   Let LAN device share Internet address?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
here is some info in PUBLIC mode:

/sbin/ifconfig shows IP add as 70.xxx.xxx.xx
IP lookup identifier website also shows 70.xxx.xxx.xx (the same  address)

 speedstream  GUI configuration  also shows 70.xxx.xxx.xx

 modem IP shows as 192.168.0.1
________________________________________________________________________________________________
All is well, but here details when I change to "hide IP address " in speedstream modem GUI config:

/sbin/ifconfig ( I have changed nothing on the PC )  - 192.168.1.64
IP lookup website shows my IP as 75.xx.xx.xxx (definitely a different address than public mode)
speedstream GUI config shows the 75.xx.xx.xxx number as well
modem IP still at 192.168.0.1
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Basically in public mode, ifconfig,website identifier and modem all indicate the same IP address
in private mode, website identifier and modem both indicate same address (although different from the public mode) and ifconfig indicates  different from those two.

Here's my question.

1. If I am in private mode, why would the identifier website show the same address that the modem shows and why would it show any address at all. Wouldn't the ID website say something like "IP not found" or 192.168.0.1 (IP address of the modem) or 192.168.1.64 (isn't this the generic address of my local internet WAN?)

2. What is sbin/ifconfig "reading"?

Doesn't seem like my IP address is hidden  or am I missing something?

Any explanations appreciated. Other than that I am having no connection problems.

[muungwana]

ifconfig shows the ip address of your network card.

192.168.xxx.xxx is an internet address(IP) that only exists in a LAN(local area network). It is not recognized on the internet and any internet facing network device can not have this address and work.

192.168.0.1 is probably your gatway in and out of your LAN

A router is a device than is used to connect networks. There is no way you can have a 192.168.x.x address and be able to go online without having a router sitting somewhere btw your ISP and your computer. I dont think you understand your network very well

I assume 70.xxx.xxx.xx is an IP address given to you by your internet service provider. There is no way you can hide The IP address given to you by your service provider since whatever website you will visit will have to have it to be able to send back resources you have required.

With the info you have, i suspect the system you have set up has a capability to connect you directly to your ISP network(ifconfig showing the 70.x.x.x address) or putting your computer under a LAN(ifconfig showing the 192.168.x.x address) and then directs your traffic to a proxy server first and that is where the 75 number is coming from

you can look up both ip addresses and see who owns them. The one that shows up online when in public mode probably is owned by your ISP, the second one could be owned by somebody who is running a proxy server. You havent given enough info to know

[Was_Just19]

I thought that maybe the 75.x  address was just a new address issued by the ISP to the modem when it was reset after making changes. That would be normal is the IP address is issued dynamically.

[Trio3b]

ifconfig shows the ip address of your network card.


192.168.0.1 is probably your gatway in and out of your LAN

A router is a device than is used to connect networks. There is no way you can have a 192.168.x.x address and be able to go online without having a router sitting somewhere btw your ISP and your computer. I dont think you understand your network very well

I assume 70.xxx.xxx.xx is an IP address given to you by your internet service provider. There is no way you can hide The IP address given to you by your service provider since whatever website you will visit will have to have it to be able to send back resources you have required.

With the info you have, i suspect the system you have set up has a capability to connect you directly to your ISP network(ifconfig showing the 70.x.x.x address) or putting your computer under a LAN(ifconfig showing the 192.168.x.x address) and then directs your traffic to a proxy server first and that is where the 75 number is coming from

you can look up both ip addresses and see who owns them. The one that shows up online when in public mode probably is owned by your ISP, the second one could be owned by somebody who is running a proxy server. You havent given enough info to know

 I don't understand. That's why the questions. ATT tech support claims this modem is NOT a router.

 I will repost here and describe my setup better when I have more time.

Thanks.

[Was_Just19]

ATT tech support claims this modem is NOT a router.

Well they seem to disagree with the manufacturer.
Do you have a user-guide/manual for the device? -- usually found on the CD that accompanies it.



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[Trio3b]

Ah.... just looked at my notes and it confirms you, Modem IS a router but has no hardware firewall. OK so that's straightened out.

Anyway, I am soon to try to insert a wireless router into my network, but that reall may not be relevant to what I'm trying to figure out.

What anonymity does it give me to toggle between "make this IP public"  and " make this IP private" if I can go to WHAT'S MY IP website and I am identified?

Also, how is the modem setting my lappy NIC card address if I don't touch the lappy?

Thanks

[Was_Just19]

Ah.... just looked at my notes and it confirms you, Modem IS a router but has no hardware firewall. OK so that's straightened out.

Well the manufacturer says there is a firewall.

Anyway, I am soon to try to insert a wireless router into my network, but that reall may not be relevant to what I'm trying to figure out.

What anonymity does it give me to toggle between "make this IP public"  and " make this IP private" if I can go to WHAT'S MY IP website and I am identified?

Also, how is the modem setting my lappy NIC card address if I don't touch the lappy?

Thanks

Have you accessed your device using a browser?
Can you not see what options are present there?

When your PC uses a public IP then the PC is on the internet directly, with nothing in between.
That means that your security is completely dependent on the settings in your PC.

When your PC uses a private IP your PC is not directly on the internet, but has the modem/router device connected between the PC and the internet.

What this means is that anyone attempting to break into your PC would first have to get through the modem/router before reaching the PC .......  if private IP is selected.
If public IP is selected they would be attacking your PC directly, with nothing to slow them down.

'Whats my IP' .....  reports the public IP of your connection. If you have selected public IP then that is the IP of your PC, if you have selected private IP then that is the IP of your modem/router. To do some extra reading search for 'bridge mode' in routers.

Most PCs are set up to receive an IP address dynamically. Thus they can change.


I advise most strongly that you get much more familiar with the device you have, and how it works and gets secured, before adding in another device to the mix.

regards.

[Trio3b]

Well the manufacturer says there is a firewall.

 Wow, not sure if AT&T knows anything!

Have you accessed your device using a browser?
Can you not see what options are present there?

Yes and yes but I don't understand half of what's there.

When your PC uses a public IP then the PC is on the internet directly, with nothing in between.
That means that your security is completely dependent on the settings in your PC.

When your PC uses a private IP your PC is not directly on the internet, but has the modem/router device connected between the PC and the internet.

What this means is that anyone attempting to break into your PC would first have to get through the modem/router before reaching the PC .......  if private IP is selected.
If public IP is selected they would be attacking your PC directly, with nothing to slow them down.

Great, that helps answer one of the questions.

'Whats my IP' .....  reports the public IP of your connection. If you have selected public IP then that is the IP of your PC, if you have selected private IP then that is the IP of your modem/router. To do some extra reading search for 'bridge mode' in routers.

Most PCs are set up to receive an IP address dynamically. Thus they can change.


I advise most strongly that you get much more familiar with the device you have, and how it works and gets secured, before adding in another device to the mix.

regards.

Will do, but much networking documentation is hard to decipher

[Was_Just19]

I should add something here ........  what I posted concerned the settings in the router .... about the private and public IPs.

I have read, but not experienced it myself, that some ISPs do the routing from their end and supply a private IP to the end user. It has the same effect when looked at from the internet side --- the device with the private IP is not 'seen' but the device between the private IP and the internet which has the public (or internet IP) is what is seen.

I hope that is not confusing .....  it is the same scheme I read, except the ISP issues the private IP and not the router/modem device in the users home.

As you asked about settings in the router this does not appear to apply to your setup.

*****

When accessing your modem/router you should see a section for the firewall. The firewall should be enabled.

The log in details of the device usually have a default setting ......... you should change the username and password for access to the device to something private to keep out unwanted visitors.

You should disable remote access .....  unless you personally want to access the device settings from some other location on the internet. Again to keep out unwanted visitors.

Set the device to issue your PC with a private IP address. It is more secure. Setting it to public IP (bridge mode) bypasses the firewall in the device and puts your PC directly connected to the internet.

All I can suggest is that you go through the settings in the device and not change anything you are not sure of ........ post back and ask if you wish. Someone should be able to help with the settings.

regards.

[Trio3b]

Cursory glance at all config pages shows no firewall section. I may post some screen shots.

I have a spare 4100 modem that I can use with my lappy separate from my network that I will futz around with and post back.

Thanks

[muungwana]

u can use this website to check if you have a firewall or not and what ports are open if you have one

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

[OldJimbo]

Newb here. All connections fine but I would like to surf more anonymously. Somewhere here there is an answer. just not finding it!

Either your machine or router has to have the Internet Protocol (IP) address - otherwise information could not be directed back to your machine.

In order to get privacy, you have to go to a proxy provider. You get an encrypted link from your machine to that one. From their machine you can surf with a different IP address - one provided by their machine. Information coming back to that computer is forwarded to you via your ISP assigned IP address in encrypted form. Cotse is one of the cheapest commercial ones:
http://www.cotse.net/
Most news servers offer ssl encryption as an option.
Obviously the proxy would know where you are surfing - and the news server company would know what you are downloading.
The TOR onion router project is free and offers more anonymity - but the tork package had issues a while back. Further back when I tried it, I was very impressed. And when I heard that the package here had issues, I downloaded "Incognito" a live CD which comes with privacy and anonymity tools built in.

Privacy is worth paying for - which why all online banking involves ssl. But anonymity is totally out of the question since you want to know that you are at the correct banking site (via their ssl certificate) and they want to know that it's you accessing your account. There are huge advantages in having all traffic encrypted when using the Internet from very insecure networks in hotels etc.
Anonymity is harder to achieve - most sites use cookies of one form or another. Probably the way to begin is with the Incognito live CD which of course can store no cookies, history, forms. But expect the TOR network to be really really slow and flaky. Your ISP would know - for example that all traffic is encrypted and going through Cotse.

[OldJimbo]

Was the Siemens Speedstream 4100 provided by your ISP? Besides the three versions of that modem/router - ISP's often cripple features to reduce tech support. They put on their own firmware so you can only see/access what they want.
It is a router because you have NAT - the 192.168.x.x stuff. But you might not have access to a firewall on the device due to replaced firmware - which runs the device - no matter what published specifications say.

[Trio3b]

Just stumbled across this thread.  here ----> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,15607820

Apparently I have an SBC "Starter Kit 4100 modem" with many  security features missing / disabled . . . . figures. So I guess the "hide IP address" option is moot?

Thanks

[OldJimbo]

So I guess the "hide IP address" option is moot?

It's doing NAT - Network Address Translation. So stuff comes and goes from the Internet side to the router using whatever IP is assigned by your Internet Provider. On the computer side you are seeing the 192.168.0.1 as the address for the Speedstream and the 192.168.1.64 is the address it has given your computer. Those 192... addresses can't be used on the Internet.
The advantage is that the actual address of your computer is hidden from the Internet side. It's more difficult to hack into your computer. So someone outside can't decide to directly attack 192.168.1.64 because that address can't be used on the Internet. So the router is effectively hiding your computer address from people on the Internet trying to get in. Everything has to arrive at the Speedstream and be re-addressed. Same for everything going out.
"Hiding" has nothing to do with anonymous surfing - but it has a lot to do with security. 

Let's say that I want to watch some BBC TV shows which are available online in Britain. Well they won't work because my real Internet Protocol address shows that I live in Canada. And they don't provide free shows to people in other countries. But I might get a cheap proxy service in Britain. So I go to that proxy with MY Canadian IP address. From there my traffic is translated over to a British IP address. So when I get to the BBC, they see me as coming from Britain. The TV show is streamed to the proxy using the British IP address and there it is forwarded over to my Canadian IP address so that it can come to find me. My router takes that stuff and sends it to 192.168.x.x. Lots of re-addressing going on.  That would actually work - and does for many expatriates - but it's not anonymous because it would take 2 minutes to find me if watching British TV shows from abroad  became considered a terrorist activity.