There is nothing worse than sitting down to an online game and discovering that you are teaming up with a hacker. If you participate in public online gaming sessions, your IP may be visible to other players, which can lead to targeted DDoS attacks or you may be booted out of gaming sessions. It can also mean that your information will be scraped off and made available to the public. Pages like xResolver only increase player concern as they claim to be hosting the public IP addresses and gamertags of Thousands of vulnerable players.
However, there are several steps you can take to avoid being listed on sites like this one and to stay safe online.
What is xResolver?
xResolver is a database service that logs the gamertags and IP addresses of users who play on Xbox, PlayStation and PC. The information contained on the website is technically legal as it is public information, but it can be a major headache for gamers who gamble online frequently.
In addition to the database itself, xResolver offers a service in which players can pay a fee to remove their IP address from the log for a “lifetime”. This is Not recommended.
How hackers can get your IP address while playing
Hacking tools like OctoSniff can allow users to scrape IP data from other users online while playing the game. This is possible because IP addresses are made public while you are online ̵
1; this is how users can connect to the Internet in the first place.OctoSniff snaps this information and decrypts user information while playing in an online session, which enables a log of which gamertag belongs to which IP address. This can then be added to databases like xResolver so that hackers can target certain players.
Why you should protect your IP address
Your IP address can give hackers your general location (usually by city and country) and open up your entire network to DDoS attacks.
Let’s say you play online and you are in a bad way. A hacker gamer may personally insult your games and decide to get your public IP address using a tool like OctoSniff. They then use this information to flood your IP address with useless communication traffic, temporarily paralyzing your Internet, and putting you out of the game.
It sucks right? And unfortunately it happens.
But as long as you protect your IP address and take steps to stay safe online, you won’t run into any major problems.
Do I have to pay to blacklist my IP address?
Sites like xResolver claim to offer a premium service where players can blacklist their gamertags and remove them from their public IP address logs – but this is a thinly disguised attempt to get gamers to spend money for free.
Information collected by xResolver is publicly available and, in large part, comes from users who run programs such as OctoSniff. In order for your gamertag to be linked online to your IP address, you need to participate in a multiplayer session with another user who is running a scraping program.
From there, information is logged and added to databases such as xResolver.
Having your gamertag associated with your IP address can result in users attacking or DDoS on you while you are playing, but it is very unlikely and will require you to participate in a public online session with hackers.
Should your IP address and gamertag be identified, there are other options than paying a hacker.
Do I have to worry about hackers when I play online?
Meeting hackers while gambling online is a very real risk, but if you are careful online, you shouldn’t worry.
Most online games and services have their own lines of defense against hackers, but there are also a few things you can do to stay safe online.
Try not to play in public meetings or in private meetings with strangers you don’t know. Do not click on unfamiliar links posted in chats or private messages. Treat any strange or unwanted messages as suspicious.
It’s not the end of the world if a stranger snaps your IP address, but of course it’s better not to be attacked in the first place. If you to have If you have suffered a DDoS attack or you suspect that your IP address has been compromised, there are steps you can take.
How to change your IP address
While you can change the IP address of your PC or laptop, you cannot change your public IP address manually – these are set by your ISP’s DHCP server. You can change your local IP address, but if someone rams a thousand bots into your household’s internet connection, it won’t help. It is the public IP that you need to change.
For some people, resetting your router for a few minutes can be the quickest, easiest solution that you may need. You may also have success disconnecting and reconnecting your NBN box if it has a 4G backup. But first check that the latter applies to your connection.
If you can’t figure it out yourself, your ISP may be able to offer advice or You can invest in a good VPN to switch your IP address for you. Any of these methods will help you solve your problems without paying a hacker for the service.
The bottom line is you should always know who you’re playing with and keep your cool when interacting with strangers online. While DDoS attacks are unfortunate, there are ways to avoid them – so don’t panic if it happens to you.
