IP address stands for Internet Protocol address. It is made up of numbers and characters assigned to every device when they connect to the internet. The IP address allows computers and mobile devices (phones and tablets) to send and receive information all over the world. Hence, without a unique IP address, your device couldn’t attempt communication.
Difference Between IPv4 vs. IPv6 addresses
There are two versions of Internet Protocol, the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. The main difference is the number of possible addresses. IPv4 was the older version of IP uses a 32-bit address scheme allowing to store nearly 4 billion addresses. IPv6 is the new version of IP which is also known as IPng (Internet Protocol Next Generation), uses 128-bit addresses allowing store up to 2128 possible combinations of nodes or addresses.
Understand the Public vs. Private IP addresses
Public IP addresses and Private IP addresses are used to identify a machine on the internet. A Public IP address is mainly used to communicate outside the network whereby your computer or devices can send and received information over the Internet. Private IP address is not routed on the Internet and no traffic cannot be sent to them from the Internet. Private IP addresses are used for private networks to identify and share information among computers and devices such as a printer.
Regardless of whether you are at home or office, each of your computers or devices will come with a unique private IP address so that they can communicate with one another through the private network, for example, you connect your computer to a printer.
Your router will assign a private IP address to the individual devices found at your home network through the DHCP protocol. However, the numbers are limited for using a private IP address.
Your IP address reveals some information about your location:
• City
• Country
• State/Province
• ZIP/Postal code
Secret or no secret? Generally, most of the secure and non-secure websites you visit can gather even more information about you. In the way that with the combining of your IP address and other information catch from cookies, fingerprints identification, trackers, metadata, advertisers, marketers, it can easily build a profile about you.
