In today’s digital era, we’re more vulnerable to cyberattacks than ever before. With internet usage growing across the globe, this gives scammers endless targets to hit. It’s easy for them to steal and use your personal information for their benefit.
But what if we told you there’s always a way to be one step ahead of these opportunists? IP geolocation lookup shows internet users where cybercriminals are trying to hack them from.
An Insight Into IP Addresses
An IP address is an identification number that pinpoints your device connected to an internet network. It holds all the information about your whereabouts and helps separate the devices connected to the network. The address pings out a signal that shows your approximate location in real-time.
For example, say you went on to the weather app on your phone, which automatically shows your location’s weather. It’s using your IP address to give you the forecast in real-time.
According to an article by PC Mag, the easiest way to find your own IP address is by searching Google for “How to find my IP address?” Google will immediately show you the coordinates.
What’s IP Geolocation Lookup?
IP geolocation lookup is a tool that provides you with the geographic location of an IP address you’re looking for. Web users who suspect a cybercriminal is attacking them use it to see where the threat is coming from.
These IP address search systems don’t give you a full address of where the threat is based. But they provide accurate location information, like country, state, city, and postcode. So, it’s still reliable enough to get a better idea of where the hacker is working from.
How to Use an IP Geolocation Lookup
Using an IP geolocation lookup is easy once you know the IP address you’re searching for.
Follow this step-by-step process on how to use an IP Geolocation Lookup.
- Step 1 – Find a free, trustful IP geolocation lookup tool.
- Step 2 – Copy the IP address you want to learn more about. ● Step 3 – Paste the address into the IP lookup section.
- Step 4 – Receive the information about the address.
What IP Geolocation Lookup’s Reveal
After you’ve inputted the IP address into the lookup tool, you should be able to view the following information.
- Internet service provider (ISP)
- Country
- City
- Hostname
- Region/state
- Area code
How Can IP Geolocation Lookups Help Defend You From Cyberattacks?
Instead of allowing cybercriminals to utilize IP geolocation lookups to steal your personal information, you can fight back.
Geolocation lookups can help you in the following ways:
Shed a Light on Phishing
Phishing, also known as email scams, is very common these days. Undoubtedly, you’ve had a random email drop into your inbox from an unknown address asking you to provide sensitive information.
According to a report published by Get Astra, at least 1.2% of emails sent daily are scams. This adds up to 3.4 billion emails a day, making one in every 4,200 malicious.
Unfortunately, many phishing emails can look very realistic, and people end up clicking them without thinking. They often pretend to be reputable companies, asking the receiver to fill in their personal information, such as bank details.
IP geolocation lookups can help you see where the email is coming from. That way, you can block the address from ever contacting you again.
Block Website Access From Specific Countries
There are certain countries in the world where scammers tend to operate. If you own a website and see a lot of traffic coming in from these scam havens, your site may be at risk.
According to an article by Analytics Insight, some of the most popular internet scamming countries include Nigeria, Ghana, and India.
By leveraging IP geolocation lookups, you can block users from certain countries from visiting your site completely. Although they could still make use of a VPN to get around this, it’s a good deterrent to keep some of them away.
Prevent Your Website From Getting Hacked
Running an online company means you can make your products available to customers worldwide. But it also puts you as a target for scammers who want to hack your account.
Say your website was hacked, and you had your private bank account details there. The criminal would have access to all this information. Usually, they would take advantage of your details and attempt to make purchases with your card.
Using an IP geolocation lookup tool, you can see where the transaction has come from. This tool has features that can show the real address where the hacker is operating. Also, it gives you a chance to be one step ahead of the hacker, so you can hide your details before they get there before you.