IP address questions (simple stuff).

So recently one of my private forums with only a handful of picked users I chose to allow on got 'hacked' into. I later figured out that one of my stupid mods gave away their information and let one of the troublesome users on. My question is this: I tried to figure out which mod of mine gave away their information and I tried to simply look up IP addresses of who has logged in but there is no option for that. The board gives me information on IP addresses of recent posts, thread creations, etc. but nothing to help me out of what their IP address was when they logged in. If was able to see said users IP addresses when logging in each time throughout the last few hours/days/weeks/months, etc. then I would figure out which one was giving away their information.

So basically, is there any way I can see my users IP addresses when logging into my forum? Y/N? If possible, how can I do/see such thing or make an option available for that? Because the forum I have now will be deleted as it's not secret anymore, and anyone who troubled us gained information we wrote about them, so I would like to keep a short leash on all my staff members so this outburst can be resolved fast rather drift on and I never figure out who gave out their information to ruin my forum. So if anyone can help me out, thanks in advance. I hope you understand what I'm asking.

Edit: Also, I heard from a person who dislikes me (and could have been the main person to get the information and log in) said they used an XP computer with another XP computer and used some kind of two-way program between both PC's and were able to see the content on my forum without even having to log in or anything. My forum was all blocked off from anyone who wasn't logged in and the only members who logged in were my staff, so I'm not sure if they were bullshitting or if that's possible to see through the forum with a basic page view (a good example of how they made it sound is like looking at a site with no page style; just blank and being able to see and read all the topics, even though they're a guest and I blocked the forum from anyone besides a signed up member seeing).

~ Aether

1. No
2. They shouldn't. If they don't give you proof its more of a fake.

MrMario wrote:1. No
2. They shouldn't. If they don't give you proof its more of a fake.

So then can you give me some good info on how to stop or prevent an outburst of hidden information to stay hidden if one of my 'trusty' members gives out their information again? I'm sure one would want to say 'Find trusty users to not give away their log in information' but we all wish it was that easy.

~ Aether

That is their fault. They should never ever give that info to anyone. Even if that is your wife, girl friend, boy friend etc.... No real quick fix to stop it.

i don't understand what information they are giving out,
Just because you have an ip address dose not mean you can get into someones account.

But check you security logs and see what the mods been doing.
And if you have people you think you cant trust then dont allow them to be staff. try people out on a trial basis.

And now you dont have to lose your forum because it's not private anymore, find out who the mole is, ban them and them move change the forum address and hope you have trust worthy people this time.

But thats about all you can do. technically there is no such thing as a private forum on a free public host.

and another thing you can do is click on the user ip address in a post of theirs, you will see all ip used from that person and also any other accounts if a person has more then one account, or in the rare occasion if it's more then one person sharing the same computer.

then if someone is using a proxy or anonymous ip changer it's realy no use to you.

kirk wrote:i don't understand what information they are giving out,
Just because you have an ip address dose not mean you can get into someones account.

But check you security logs and see what the mods been doing.
And if you have people you think you cant trust then dont allow them to be staff. try people out on a trial basis.

And now you dont have to lose your forum because it's not private anymore, find out who the mole is, ban them and them move change the forum address and hope you have trust worthy people this time.

But thats about all you can do. technically there is no such thing as a private forum on a free public host.

and another thing you can do is click on the user ip address in a post of theirs, you will see all ip used from that person and also any other accounts if a person has more then one account, or in the rare occasion if it's more then one person sharing the same computer.

then if someone is using a proxy or anonymous ip changer it's realy no use to you.

What I mean by giving away their information is their log in information i.e. username and password. The forum was merely created to store information of users on a chat I use run (this event took place over a year now, but I never got to say these things on here because I forgot my pw and got lazy and never logged in until now, hence why I'm trying to get some info on this for if I ever decide to make another forum) and only my staff on the chat could log into my forum. The forum content and everything on the forum was blocked to everyone except for forum members, aka my staff. The only thing you could see on my forum is it asking you to log in; nothing else (well, the logo, but you get what I'm saying).

Basically what happens is we store IP addresses, and information of troublesome users on the forum, so if any new staff gets added to my chat, they get put on the forum and read the threads I've created to teach them how to become a better staff member on the chat and who to watch out for. The problem is, one of the troublesome users got banned on my chat and I guess that person was a kiss-ass with one of my staff members and apparently she gave her username and password to this douche and he logged in, reading all the threads about users we privately discussed about. I had to figure out who gave away their information, but there is no option to see log-in info (aka IP/host, etc.) and the only way IP is stored is if a member posts, makes a thread, etc. on the forum, and this user only got on to read the threads and nothing more. I couldn't figure out who gave out their information, and therefore I deleted the forum, removed all staff, sold my chat, and so on. The drama got way too out of hand all because of a dipshit mod of mine gave away their log in information to someone who shouldn't have read what we privately stored for future staff.

So if there was a way I could see who the mole was, then I'd be able to remove that person, deal with the drama on the chat by removing pesky users who are troublesome, and add new staff and move on. Since I couldn't pin down the mole, I was forced to remove all the staff and close things up due to the future drama that took place.

~ Aether

there is really no way to see unless you know who gave their user and pass to who ever.. your saying the girl that got banned, well if you banned her then her user and pass would be useless because she was banned and can no longer log in with it.

So i dont understand what your doing or what your forum is about,
But storing all this ip information makes no sense to me if you are a private forum for only you and your staff or trusted members.

But the bottom line is if someone shares their user and pass with someone else and able to log in your forum as that person, then there is nothing you can do to prevent form someone doing that..


All i can suggest is look at all the members ip's most should always be the same ip, and if you see someone with lots of post and always the same ip then one thats out of the norm but everyone else seem to be on and legit,

then you can check that ip for the region they are in and see if it's close to the ip that was used most.

this way you can see if a ip from a user thats hundreds of miles away from a ip that was used the most, then you know. in other words, first you have the user with pretty much the same ip all the time and any other ip's they may have used that close to where the more frequent ip is that is used., but now you see they have a ip thats hundreds miles away or even in another country, then there ya go. unless they are using a proxy or ip changer.. but then you will see many many different ip's from a user that may have this in place.

But whats to say this person sharing the information and allow others or someone to log in as them is not a real personal friend and lives near by or something. then that would blow that theory and attempt to find out right out of the water

So you have no solid secure way to find out what your asking, all you can do is try to gather as much as possible, put two and two together and hope you make the right decisions.

but i would defiantly start by checking each staff members ip's, see what ones are the same and fluently used ones,then look for ones that are out of the norm,out of place, or out of region.

Other then that i really have no clue, people are back stabbers and will try to screw someone over for anything and everything..

But i have to say, you and your staff gathering and saving information on your chat or what ever, that seems a lil out of the norm and corrupt to me.
But what do i know. i dont know you,your forum, or your members and try not to stereotype nor judge.But i can tell you over 15 years experience of creating, running , owning, forums and sites. i have seen and heard it all.. so threads like these do not surprise me one bit.

So yeah. once again there's not to much you can do, just try checking all ip's and see which ones look out of the norm.

And i can almost 100% guaranty, that if you see a members ip that is no where in the range of what their most frequent used ip is, then thats your mole right there.

hopefully this is the case and you can crack it easy.

kirk wrote:there is really no way to see unless you know who gave their user and pass to who ever.. your saying the girl that got banned, well if you banned her then her user and pass would be useless because she was banned and can no longer log in with it.

So i dont understand what your doing or what your forum is about,
But storing all this ip information makes no sense to me if you are a private forum for only you and your staff or trusted members.

But the bottom line is if someone shares their user and pass with someone else and able to log in your forum as that person, then there is nothing you can do to prevent form someone doing that..


All i can suggest is look at all the members ip's most should always be the same ip, and if you see someone with lots of post and always the same ip then one thats out of the norm but everyone else seem to be on and legit,

then you can check that ip for the region they are in and see if it's close to the ip that was used most.

this way you can see if a ip from a user thats hundreds of miles away from a ip that was used the most, then you know. in other words, first you have the user with pretty much the same ip all the time and any other ip's they may have used that close to where the more frequent ip is that is used., but now you see they have a ip thats hundreds miles away or even in another country, then there ya go. unless they are using a proxy or ip changer.. but then you will see many many different ip's from a user that may have this in place.

But whats to say this person sharing the information and allow others or someone to log in as them is not a real personal friend and lives near by or something. then that would blow that theory and attempt to find out right out of the water

So you have no solid secure way to find out what your asking, all you can do is try to gather as much as possible, put two and two together and hope you make the right decisions.

but i would defiantly start by checking each staff members ip's, see what ones are the same and fluently used ones,then look for ones that are out of the norm,out of place, or out of region.

Other then that i really have no clue, people are back stabbers and will try to screw someone over for anything and everything..

But i have to say, you and your staff gathering and saving information on your chat or what ever, that seems a lil out of the norm and corrupt to me.
But what do i know. i dont know you,your forum, or your members and try not to stereotype nor judge.But i can tell you over 15 years experience of creating, running , owning, forums and sites. i have seen and heard it all.. so threads like these do not surprise me one bit.

So yeah. once again there's not to much you can do, just try checking all ip's and see which ones look out of the norm.

And i can almost 100% guaranty, that if you see a members ip that is no where in the range of what their most frequent used ip is, then thats your mole right there.

hopefully this is the case and you can crack it easy.

Lol You're confusing yourself dude. It's quite simple: the way my chat worked was we banned members on our chat, and some would IP change and come back, so then we'd permenantly ban their IP address, but so we don't have to remember all their IP's I created a forum were I could make a thread about said user and store their IP each and every time that user logs in. This kept track of everyone on my chat, and this was a way my moderators could keep track too, and would not ask me questions when everything I know is stored on my forum. My staff on chat were my members on my forum, hence they were only members on my forum but I made them look like staff members (to match my chat).

What I mean by 'private' on my public forum is that I set all the boards to be hidden to all except for those who are members, and the only members were my chat staff (no one could make an account on the forum; I made their accounts and approved them through the Admin panel). The only people with access to see anything on the forum -- such as posts, threads, etc. -- were my chat mods. The mole was never figured out because apparently two of my staff members said they gave their information away, and then rumors started that it was one or the other. I removed both, but then they came to me saying they didn't give away their information, yet I had no proof to figure out who was lying and was not. Since there is no section for me to check log in IP's, then I couldn't -- and till this day -- figure out who gave away their username and password to someone who wasn't suppose to set eyes on the member-only content.

True, the only way I could have figured out that persons IP was if they posted or did anything which is the only way the forum logs their IP, but this user merely went onto the account, and read the threads, and didn't post, because they knew it'd reveal their IP and I'd spot who the mole was and remove that members account and remove them off my chat as a mod. But since there is no way the forum can store IP's from members logging into the forum, then I couldn't figure out who gave out their information.

The only way I could have spotted the mole was if I was on my forum at the same time the user used my stupid mods account and I spotted the different IP. At the bottom of the forum it tells you who's signed in -- guests, members, staff, etc. -- and this way, and only this way, could I have caught the mole, but I wasn't logged in at the time and then the member who logged into my forum using my mods given away username and password read all the threads we stored about troublesome users and this lead to a massive drama-fest and so on so forth from there.

It's really quite simple of how the situation came to be. The problem is there is no option for me, the admin of the forum, to see IP addresses of users unless they post, or make a thread. If they just log in, then the forum does jack squat to store their IP. If you're still confused I'll sum it up easily for you in a way you might understand it in your way: let's say the forumotion board has sections only special users can see, such as staff members like yourself. Regular members cannot see such things unless they get the status or approved to see that section. Say one of your fellow staff member tells me their username and password and I log into their account. Now that I'm logged in under their account I can see all the sections I couldn't normally see due to my member-only status. And in those hidden sections you had information stored by the site admin that only staff members should read/see and know about, but I, the mole who logged in with your fellow mods account read all the threads and information stored about troublesome users.

I then start telling everyone one of those members what you guys wrote about them and leak this hidden information and then these already troublesome users become even more troublesome now that they know they are indeed a nuisance to your site. You then try to figure out who the mole was who leaked this information out, but without them posting or doing anything to spot the IP difference, you'd never figure out the mole. This is why I needed something in my admin panel to see all the IP's of my members when they logged in. This way, I could have seen the different IP's and figured out the mole and removed that users account and so on. Do you get what I'm saying? If there ever was such an option to be implemented on future versions of forumotion boards, this feature would be very helpful -- to store all members IP addresses and host information the minute they log into the forum with their account.

~ Aether

well you know what you do to get around this in the future.

Have a introductory board, where all new members must post first and introduce there self to again access to the rest of the forum.

You can set all your forum permissions for the groups you want, and once they post on the introductory board you can even have it go to a members group automatically after the first post for what ever access you want to allow for any given boards.

this way they will not have access to any part of the forum until they say hi and introduce there self's, and in return you always have a post there to check ip's if you have to.

be sure you do not allow them to delete any post on the intro board as well.

I suggest everyone have this in place on their forums,
or you can even make it like your forums rules board, to where they have to first agree and reply to the thread of your forums rules before they gain access.

and like i said you can set it up to where they will be placed in a members group or something automatically after they post.

And once again, now you always have a post from them to check ip's, if needed, and if they never post,oh well looks they dont see anything but the intro or rules board and have no access, therefor cant see nothing or do anything either

So you know it dont do you much good now, what happened happened, let it be a learning lesson and move on and be sure not to let it happen again, if there are ways to prevent something then be sure to set everything up the best you cant to prevent it.

YEHA DONT BE MESSING WITH DA KIRK!!!! hahah I'm just kidding man,


but yeah i feel ya man, i have been down that road and know where your coming from.
Shiat you should here my dog house scenario ... lol another time.

kirk wrote:well you know what you do to get around this in the future.

Have a introductory board, where all new members must post first and introduce there self to again access to the rest of the forum.

You can set all your forum permissions for the groups you want, and once they post on the introductory board you can even have it go to a members group automatically after the first post for what ever access you want to allow for any given boards.

this way they will not have access to any part of the forum until they say hi and introduce there self's, and in return you always have a post there to check ip's if you have to.

be sure you do not allow them to delete any post on the intro board as well.

I suggest everyone have this in place on their forums,
or you can even make it like your forums rules board, to where they have to first agree and reply to the thread of your forums rules before they gain access.

and like i said you can set it up to where they will be placed in a members group or something automatically after they post.

And once again, now you always have a post from them to check ip's, if needed, and if they never post,oh well looks they dont see anything but the intro or rules board and have no access, therefor cant see nothing or do anything either

So you know it dont do you much good now, what happened happened, let it be a learning lesson and move on and be sure not to let it happen again, if there are ways to prevent something then be sure to set everything up the best you cant to prevent it.

YEHA DONT BE MESSING WITH DA KIRK!!!! hahah I'm just kidding man,


but yeah i feel ya man, i have been down that road and know where your coming from.
Shiat you should here my dog house scenario ... lol another time.

That's really not that bad of an idea. So how would I basically do this? Make a group and add all my staff (which are all my members) to the group. Then when everyone logs in, they have to make a post to see the rest of the board? How would that be possible? Do you mean when they first get their account created on the forum and make their first post or do you mean when they log in each time they have to make a post in said part to see the rest of the forum?

If I could somehow make all my staff log in and post at least 1 forced post to see the rest of the board, then I can keep track of their IP's every time they log in. This way, if one them ever gives out their username & password, and someone that's not allowed to the site uses their account, they wouldn't be able to see any of the boards until they make one post per log in. Would something like that be possible? Because this way every time one of them logs in, they post, forum logs down their IP because they posted, and then they're granted access to the rest of the forum boards. They would have to do this each time they log in or else they couldn't see the rest of the board. So with something like this, whoever logs in through their account, be it them or someone else they gave their information away to, would get their IP logged and I'd figure out who the mole is.

And yeah, the past is the past; I've accepted that. The reason I'm laying down so much questions to at least gain some answers and to prevent something like this happening again, then I can go on and re-make a forum, maybe start up a new chat again, and go on from there. And haha, well, shoot me a PM sometime if you ever want to share your side of troubles.

~ Aether