Recently, TAT changed their phone service to a faster Internet company. With that came changes of our IP address. So what is that?

When you type in a name into the address bar of your browser, such as http://www.tatstore.com, your computer connects with what is called a registrar, an Internet address book, that tells your computer what other computer has the information you are looking for. What your are typing in is called a URL, or Uniform Resources Locater. So, you type in your URL and your computer calls up the registrar to find your information.

What happens at the registrar is that the words your type in are changed over into the IP address, as set of four different number combinations that represent the exact location of the computer with the information you want. For instance, the IP address for tatstore is 216.109.194.56 (this information is public for all websites, so no secrets revealed). The first serious of digits represent the owner of the major line, such as AT&T, MCI, or other large telecommunications company. The second and third set of digits futher define a geographical location of sub lines with in a state and county locations. The final set are specific to locations with in the telecommunication’s network making the final identification of the computer you want.

So what is the big deal?

The big deal is a potential security risk for Your computer. The communications network assigns an IP address to ALL computer connected to the Internet. And that includes yours/

Currently, my IP address 69.218.252.13. So theorectially, you could type that information into your browser and connect to my home computer. So why am I telling you this? In my home computer is my financial software, which contains all my bank account and credit information. But is it safe?

Firstly, my Internet service provider offers a lot of protection, with virus and firewalls (specially coded hardware) that blocks most malicious attacks. Second, all the computers in my house are protected with various virus and firewall programs. Third, I insist that all the users on the computers use a password to log into their computer. There is little chance your can guess their user name and password. Fourth. all the most importan programs have separate user names and passwords.

The final safety measure we have in my home is that our IP address is dynamic. Dynamic means that everytime my network logs into the Internet, it changes address. You could type in the address, but it will not be my address anymore. Check with your Internet provider and see if your address is dynamic.

If you have any other questions about your home computer safety, leave me a comment and I will help you out.