your personal information is being transmitted

[kat2uk]

I am new to ntl and was shocked to discover that my personal identification information is being transmitted evey time I use my broadband cable connection. In the past other isps would just transmit your ip address, but for some reason (and I am new to cable) ntl subscribe information to your account which you as a cable modem user transmit to every website you visit.
How did I find this information
by visiting sheilds up, they made me aware that my personal information was being transmitted, such details as the area where you live where within the body of that infomation, would you like to see your information? then hope on over to sheilds up https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 and do a leak test.
I havent anything to hide, but it does concern me that others could potentially use this information about me, tell me how you feel about this issue by posting a comment in this thread.
regards KAt

[Rob]

moved to security & virus discussion

[Paul]

Wow it says I live in Watford.... since that is the proxy I'm currently using to get around an access problem. Shame I live somewhere else.
Use a proxy outside your local geographic area if you are that concerned about it.
If you look at Robin Walkers site you will see that all proxy information shows a geographical area, it's nothing new and I'm not exactly worried by it.

[kat2uk]

Hi, Paul,
alot more information is being transmitted than just the area you live in, if you go to sheilds up and have alook there you will see not just the area you live in but other details too. I understand what you are saying with regards to using another proxy but I can honestly say I have never come across this level of infomation being transmitted when using other isps.
thanku for your reply
kat

[Stuart C]

If you are referring to the Browser Headers option, well, this information is provided by your browser, NOT NTL. It is also part of the standard for requesting web pages.

Also, I would take Steve Gibson's advice with a pinch of salt. He does know what he is talking about (most of the time), but he also tends to massively hype any potential security problem.

It's also worth noting that the TCP/IP standard that NTL (& indeed, all services attached to the Internet) is tightly defined. ANY variation from that standard (such as transmitting extra information) would prevent that ISPs customers from accessing most sites.

[kat2uk]

Hi, Stuart,
No, please would everyone check the website and look at the information, its nothing to do what so ever with anything brought up so far and the information about my computer has been tested on more than one internet security site please before anymore posts are submitted go to sheilds up, scroll down towards the bottom of the page.
The text below might uniquely
identify you on the Internet
Your Internet connection's IP address is uniquely associated with the following "machine name":


xxxx-xxxx0-xxxxx5.bagu.cable.ntl.com
The string of text above is known as your Internet connection's "reverse DNS." The end of the string is probably a domain name related to your ISP. This will be common to all customers of this ISP. But the beginning of the string uniquely identifies your Internet connection. The question is: Is the beginning of the string an "account ID
I have placed x about my location and account details
so, anyone else please go to the website and check out your own personal id string, its not a header isnt anything to do with internet explorer, its an id marker.
thanku for your reply stuart
regards kat

Originally Posted by kat2uk

The question is: Is the beginning of the string an "account ID

It is NOT your account information.

Look at your bill and look at your account number. Then look at that number. In all the years i worked for NTL on Broadband I never saw account information in that line.

You can decide not to trust what i say and carry on with this but i can honestly state that NTL are not i repeat NOT sending your account information in that line.

This bit here cpc2-warr1-4-0-cust111.bagu.cable.ntl.com

cust111 is the last 3 digits of your ip address

cpc2-warr1-4-0 is the equipment you are connected to in the headend


trust me there is no data protection problem here

[Stuart C]

I don't think it is an account ID as such, but, TBH, to be able to get any useful information from it (even if it is), a hacker would need access to NTL's systems. If they have access to NTL's systems, they have access to information whatever NTL put in the DNS entry. This is the same with ANY IP, from any ISP. It's also worth noting that ANY broadband connection will have an IP that can be associated with it.

incidentally, you can get the information yourself without going to a website. Assuming you know your own IP, just type "ping -a <yourip>" into any command prompt.


Update: Look at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d...e.html#dnsname for details of how to decode your NTL DNS Name. It doesn't contain a reference to your account.

I really don't see what the fuss is about - that text string no more identifies you than an IP address would. It is the result of doing a reverse DNS lookup on your current IP address, which, as stated above, is available to any web site you visit.

[kat2uk]

Hi, Bill,
my point is that the infomation you posted does locate you even if you dont understand, I see in your id that your in warrington, hence thats there and some reference numbers, your id string will always follow you where ever you go on the internet, that string is like an open cookie
it tells me your in warrington and that your an ntl customer.
if you were just on ordinary broadband without a static ip then the information would not be there. I know this because I have tried this in the past.
its an id marker u can be tracked through that marker, the marker will never change.
regards and thanku for your reply
kat

Originally Posted by Johnrob

I really don't see what the fuss is about - that text string no more identifies you than an IP address would. It is the result of doing a reverse DNS lookup on your current IP address, which, as stated above, is available to any web site you visit.

To be truthful this is the main problem with Steve Gibson's site. he has a very bad habit of over hyping anything HE thinks is out of the ordinary, He then gets loads of tv and web site coverage before someone looks at it and finds out it's a none story .

People go there see a flashy site and take his word for it that the internet is the wild west.

[Paul]

Kat, I don't want to sound as though I'm ignoring your posts in anyway but believe us when we say that a number of us here have been online for many years and are aware of what information is sent when we request data from sites. Some people on this forum are IT professionals, some work within NTL itself and know exactly what is being sent where and what implications it has.
Steve Gibson makes his money and his name from instilling fear and doubt in peoples minds, he does that by making statements that are based in the truth but which do not contain the whole truth.
If you are concerned about what information is being propogated via your computer then feel free to ask what you can do to stem the flow but believe it or not you are at no risk whatsoever by the information from the reverse DNS lookup as long as you are being careful and are running the necessary tools (firewall, AV, anti-spyware etc).

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by kat2uk

I see in your id that your in warrington, hence thats there and some reference numbers, your id string will always follow you where ever you go on the internet, that string is like an open cookie
it tells me your in warrington and that your an ntl customer.

So what?

Originally Posted by kat2uk

Hi, Bill,
my point is that the information you posted does locate you even if you dont understand, I see in your id that your in warrington, hence that there and some reference numbers, your id string will always follow you where ever you go on the internet, that string is like an open cookie
it tells me your in warrington and that your an ntl customer.
if you were just on ordinary broadband without a static ip then the information would not be there. I know this because I have tried this in the past.
its an id marker u can be tracked through that marker, the marker will never change.
regards and thanks for your reply
Kat

So are you saying that your ip does not track you. Sorry but i dont see a problem here, You can be tracked by other means than this. If you are that worried i think you need to look at your isp choice but all and i mean all isp will have a simler why of showing what connection you are on, However if someone has your ip they can easily find out a lot of information about you.

---------- Post added at 13:59 ---------- Previous post was at 13:58 ----------

Originally Posted by Ramrod

So what?

It can be seen in my info to the left as well.

[Paul]

Kat, how would you expect a site to be able to send you a html page if you don't transmit your IP information? How would the site know where to send the page if 100's of requests were being made for individual pages every second? A site would have great difficulty responding to individual visitor requests if it couldn't identify where the requests were coming from and therefor where to send the page back to.