IP and dorm room numbers

[alphatarget1]

that's right, I have NO IDEA why the school admins would allow this to happen but using the IP from the dorm room gives you the dorm name and number

lass***-***.r.dhcp.CSUChico.EDU

Lass for Lassen hall and I know the guy. his room number is listed next to lass

should i at least try to get the school to do something about this? I mean it's pretty dangerous for people to be able to track which room you're in with your IP address.

 

[yoda291]

is there a security guard at your door? Plus...there's really nothing to stop you from grabbing a student directory and looking people up by name.

 

[Jzero]

We used to be set up that way before we switched to DHCP addressing. There are other easy ways to find people's rooms - campus directories, etc.

 

[MrYogi]

how can they do something like that?
:disgust:

 

[alphatarget1]

i don't live in that dorm, i live off campus.

the building has a lock and after 10 you have to be signed in to get into the building. We used to have a phone number directory but they scrapped it.

 

[Pastore]

Originally posted by: yoda291
is there a security guard at your door? Plus...there's really nothing to stop you from grabbing a student directory and looking people up by name.

Do the directories also list the IP of their machine next to their room number?

 

[Anubis]

we are just given #'s 172.16.15.193 was mine. do what you want with it. heheheh im not at school and their security is nuts

 

[yoda291]

Originally posted by: Beast1284

Originally posted by: yoda291
is there a security guard at your door? Plus...there's really nothing to stop you from grabbing a student directory and looking people up by name.

Do the directories also list the IP of their machine next to their room number?

Only the really good ones...

besides, since the hostname is derived from the room number, you can pretty much figure out the hostname from there.

 

[Orsorum]

Despite what the residence hall staff members will tell your parents, the buildings are NOT secure. Ever. Even over break when they're supposedly locked and empty. I've had too many incidents with people who wandered in off the street or who were let in by other residents to believe any of that crap.

As to your original question, however, it's really not that hard to get that same personal info through other means. I doubt they'll change their procedure any time soon. But, it might be a good idea to bring it up.

 

[KEV1N]

For organizational purposes I see this method as the best way to manage all the network access modules campuswide. They probably weighed the security threats before they implemented it. But then again I know little-to-nothing about anything

 

[LuckyTaxi]

yikes

 

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: Zakath15
Despite what the residence hall staff members will tell your parents, the buildings are NOT secure. Ever. Even over break when they're supposedly locked and empty. I've had too many incidents with people who wandered in off the street or who were let in by other residents to believe any of that crap.

As to your original question, however, it's really not that hard to get that same personal info through other means. I doubt they'll change their procedure any time soon. But, it might be a good idea to bring it up.

i just checked the student directory and it only has my email address on it, not my address.

the fact that some strangers online can possibly get your IP and room number is dangerous IMO.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: KEV1N
For organizational purposes I see this method as the best way to manage all the network access modules campuswide. They probably weighed the security threats before they implemented it. But then again I know little-to-nothing about anything

It doesn't really help much management-wise. My school (and most others) restrict access to the network by MAC address, so we would just look up which IP was assigned to which MAC and who registered that MAC.
Of course, you can spoof a MAC - nothing is 100% foolproof.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: MrYogi
how can they do something like that?
:disgust:

You asking the technical side or the moral side?

The technical side is pretty simple. They set their DHCP server to bind certain IPs to certain ports then release that IP to whomever plugs in. The ip addresses are then going to be setup in a DNS table to return back the room number and any other info they want.

They would want to do this for connection auditing, support, and general ease of management.

The moral side is pretty easy because it's THEIR network. When it comes to security there are too many hippies trying to make mp3s illegal and police the internet so it's better that the University can at least say they did everything they could to prevent internet type crimes.

 

[Aves]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1
the fact that some strangers online can possibly get your IP and room number is dangerous IMO.

Agreed.

 

[alphatarget1]

looks like it's only a DHCP server that assigned numbers to different computers connected in the dorm, i was dumb :/

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: Zakath15
Despite what the residence hall staff members will tell your parents, the buildings are NOT secure. Ever. Even over break when they're supposedly locked and empty. I've had too many incidents with people who wandered in off the street or who were let in by other residents to believe any of that crap.

This is true. A year before I lived in the dorm I lived in for two years, there was a homeless woman living in the girls bathroom on the first floor. No one questioned her being there.

My freshman year, spring semester, some drifter wandered onto our floor, tried every door until he found one that was unlocked, then walked in. I found out later that campus police had orders to arrest him on sight and escort him off of campus.

The drifter had walked right by our room and I'm guessing found the door was locked. Except it wasnt locked, it only felt that way. If you pulled up on the door handle, the mechanism would stick, and you could just push the door to open it. From the outside, it felt locked (and the doors were heavy enough to not move if bumped lightly)

 

[Platypus]

Hahaha, what college do you go to? In a matter of 2 minutes using only the internet I can tell you your home address. You think your info is secure?

I wouldn't worry about it

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: Zakath15
Despite what the residence hall staff members will tell your parents, the buildings are NOT secure. Ever. Even over break when they're supposedly locked and empty. I've had too many incidents with people who wandered in off the street or who were let in by other residents to believe any of that crap.

This is true. A year before I lived in the dorm I lived in for two years, there was a homeless woman living in the girls bathroom on the first floor. No one questioned her being there.

My freshman year, spring semester, some drifter wandered onto our floor, tried every door until he found one that was unlocked, then walked in. I found out later that campus police had orders to arrest him on sight and escort him off of campus.

The drifter had walked right by our room and I'm guessing found the door was locked. Except it wasnt locked, it only felt that way. If you pulled up on the door handle, the mechanism would stick, and you could just push the door to open it. From the outside, it felt locked (and the doors were heavy enough to not move if bumped lightly)

There have been so many incidents it's not even funny. A girl was raped in my particular dorm last year. About three years ago a girl was raped in the girls' bathroom in the dorm next to ours (the one I lived in last year). We've had a couple different drifters in the building this year, and a few more that haven't got caught. We've also had a string of burglaries regardless of the double locks on most rooms (i.e. cluster door and room door).

They are NOT safe places to live, any way you look at it. Of course, I guess living on an urban campus has something to do with it.

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: Zakath15

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: Zakath15
Despite what the residence hall staff members will tell your parents, the buildings are NOT secure. Ever. Even over break when they're supposedly locked and empty. I've had too many incidents with people who wandered in off the street or who were let in by other residents to believe any of that crap.

This is true. A year before I lived in the dorm I lived in for two years, there was a homeless woman living in the girls bathroom on the first floor. No one questioned her being there.

My freshman year, spring semester, some drifter wandered onto our floor, tried every door until he found one that was unlocked, then walked in. I found out later that campus police had orders to arrest him on sight and escort him off of campus.

The drifter had walked right by our room and I'm guessing found the door was locked. Except it wasnt locked, it only felt that way. If you pulled up on the door handle, the mechanism would stick, and you could just push the door to open it. From the outside, it felt locked (and the doors were heavy enough to not move if bumped lightly)

There have been so many incidents it's not even funny. A girl was raped in my particular dorm last year. About three years ago a girl was raped in the girls' bathroom in the dorm next to ours (the one I lived in last year). We've had a couple different drifters in the building this year, and a few more that haven't got caught. We've also had a string of burglaries regardless of the double locks on most rooms (i.e. cluster door and room door).

They are NOT safe places to live, any way you look at it. Of course, I guess living on an urban campus has something to do with it.

What college is this?

 

[fizmeister]

That's what you get for going to Piece-of-Crap State U.

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: fizmeister
That's what you get for going to Piece-of-Crap State U.

 

[Hammer]

stop masquerading as girls on the internet and you wont have to worry

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: fizmeister
That's what you get for going to Piece-of-Crap State U.

And I'm sure going to some elitist private school for spoiled brats is any better?

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: Zakath15

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: Zakath15
Despite what the residence hall staff members will tell your parents, the buildings are NOT secure. Ever. Even over break when they're supposedly locked and empty. I've had too many incidents with people who wandered in off the street or who were let in by other residents to believe any of that crap.

This is true. A year before I lived in the dorm I lived in for two years, there was a homeless woman living in the girls bathroom on the first floor. No one questioned her being there.

My freshman year, spring semester, some drifter wandered onto our floor, tried every door until he found one that was unlocked, then walked in. I found out later that campus police had orders to arrest him on sight and escort him off of campus.

The drifter had walked right by our room and I'm guessing found the door was locked. Except it wasnt locked, it only felt that way. If you pulled up on the door handle, the mechanism would stick, and you could just push the door to open it. From the outside, it felt locked (and the doors were heavy enough to not move if bumped lightly)

There have been so many incidents it's not even funny. A girl was raped in my particular dorm last year. About three years ago a girl was raped in the girls' bathroom in the dorm next to ours (the one I lived in last year). We've had a couple different drifters in the building this year, and a few more that haven't got caught. We've also had a string of burglaries regardless of the double locks on most rooms (i.e. cluster door and room door).

They are NOT safe places to live, any way you look at it. Of course, I guess living on an urban campus has something to do with it.

What college is this?

University of Washington. Most other urban campuses have similar problems, if not worse.