Some truth. There are some “safeguards” most online play systems use via console or games with dedicated server. A skilled hacker can overcome them or use other methods like social engineering or data trawling. The most basic way is using clues you give about yourself to find an “in” to grab data, then usually there is a key somewhere like a social media account or some record sold by a retailer etc. they can find online. Using SQL or programs they can data mine sites you’ve visited and get the information required if they can’t get it directly from your connection. Proxies and the like can help obscure you- but ultimately there’s no totally intractable connection. Even TOR can be traced. It’s somewhat uncommon though- and even if someone has the skills and will...
They won’t necessarily get your EXACT house. An IP alone will generally give you a cluster of possible places the connection is, not an exact physical address. Being careful about what you say or post online goes a long way. Even this site is a perfect repository for such information.
Following a users comments across threads and time will give you much. “Jake123” might have said they were in high school 4 years ago. Maybe mentioned a mascot, or the school did a certain play or won a big championship etc. now thy graduated. Work. Mention their job several places. Big chain retail. Their house is 20 minutes from their job thy quip in a comment about fuel mileage on cars. They drove to xyz National Park this weekend. They say in another- so on. Before long we have enough information to figure out the state and city they live in based on either their direct information or the fact it’s close enough to drive to xyz Park in a weekend, has this store, that monument, bad traffic, etc. we find the local high school they went to based off the mascot or teachers or events they mention.
Then you know something like they were in drama. So you now can look up the yearbook and know they are one of these people in that club. If we know their sex we eliminate those not of their biological sex. Ok. It’s not too hard. With an IP even easier. Even if they live with parents. We combine the two with an easy search for who owns the house- likely same last name. Look for a kid with that last name. Splash some social engineering as needed, call the school, the work, whatever- you’re a program or employer or whatever and this was listed as a reference, they won something- whatever. Places aren’t supposed to give info over the phone but many don’t follow procedure or can be talked into telling you.
The you have a picture of the house and all that. Of course- it’s easier to just show a cluster of houses or a random house and hope their mind does the rest. But in general it isn’t something you have to worry about that much. It’s not a common occurrence and it IS a crime. So report it, move on. Online play there’s a very good chance they’re prohibitively far away to cause you trouble. That’s where “swatting” comes from.
But how often do you hear a case of successful swatting? It happens, it can happen, but generally you’re pretty safe. Just be careful about your online presence, don’t give out information, even seemingly harmless info, to strangers about yourself, and try to be civil with others.
A good vpn is functionally unbeatable unless you are hiding your traffic from someone who can force the service to tell them information assuming they even have be information to give.
VPN works very well. Social engineering and data mining can still get results. The best lock offers little protection of you don’t have to beat the lock to get what you want. VPN is a good safety precaution though. Like any security it’s really more about deterrents and making things difficult enough that only the most skilled or persistent would try.
the thing about a vpn is that basically speaking if you are paying any amount of money for it its going to be an encryption that would take more than a lifetime to crack computationally. the only real difference in price is connection speed and server count/locations and less importantly UI quality. Just having one at all basically makes it so only a fool would make an attempt regardless of skill level.
the points about social engineering and datamining is very true tho. in most cases a person wont be able to be tracked to a specfic person or a specfic location unless that information has been disclosed on a public forum and only to the degree its been disclosed.
with the swatting, most of that is just from streamers being their own PR and marketing department and allowing identifying location information be shown rather than any random person on the internet. Even if you have a picture of your house on the internet that's usually not enough to track someone down by in most cases.
Very true. So all in all it is theoretically possible but is very unlikely that a disgruntled person in a video game would be able or willing to expend the resources and time to track most people down
the points about social engineering and datamining is very true tho. in most cases a person wont be able to be tracked to a specfic person or a specfic location unless that information has been disclosed on a public forum and only to the degree its been disclosed.
with the swatting, most of that is just from streamers being their own PR and marketing department and allowing identifying location information be shown rather than any random person on the internet. Even if you have a picture of your house on the internet that's usually not enough to track someone down by in most cases.