Three Ways to Find Who Owns an IP Address

Internet protocol (IP) addresses are unique identifiers that signify your devices. The less tedious way to say this is that IPs are your passport to the internet. Without every device having the necessary IPs and gateways, our devices won’t interact—they literally can’t.

Regardless of today’s technological advancements, IPs remain one of the most sought-after pieces of information for numerous reasons. Websites can harvest information for marketing, while hackers can tunnel into a previously unsecured network.

The average person can even track down the owner of an IP address for their purposes but remain cautious, as it is illegal to search for an IP address or owner with ill intent.

What Can You Do with an IP Address?

Depending on the end goal, knowing a person's or device's IP can be of great use. As mentioned before, websites and hackers have their reasons for researching and tracking IPs; there are other reasons too. Some reasons could be pushing back on an internet threat, verifying that your systems are connected to the proper devices, or seeing if an address is from whom you think it's from.

Discovering how to find people's IP addresses is relatively easy if you are already familiar with commands and inspected elements. An IP address owner is connected to their IPs through their Internet Service Provider (ISP) and their actions online. The problem is that our IPs can go through many gateways that mask the real IP. The only way to know if an IP is real is by trying to find the owner of the IP.

Finding the owner of an IP address is not difficult, but it can be nerve-wracking if you are uncomfortable with slightly advanced technology. Follow this guide, and you can find the owner of any IP address—unless it’s a decoy or masked using security software.

When to Use An Online IP Look Up Tool

Online look-up tools are great resources for checking if our devices are actively working. Websites like whatismyipaddress.com are great for double-checking that a virtual private network (VPN) works the way it should.

However, when it comes to how to look up an IP address owner, these tools can’t. They don’t have the ability or the access a user would need to find the owner of a given IP.

While these tools are excellent for verification, they don’t do what we need. Instead, you can find owner IP address information and other specifics by utilizing an IP address database. You can also use the InfoTracer IP Lookup Tool for this information.

Three Ways to Find the Owner of an IP Address

When it comes time to find the owner of an IP address, we’ll need first to find the IP. After that, you can look up IP owner data through a database or use the IP for whatever purpose.

1. Trace Using Command Prompt “Ping” and “Tracert”

Arguably the most straightforward way to find who owns an IP address, users with Windows can use a command. Users can work with either the Command Prompt window or the Terminal application.

Again, these will not tell us who owns an IP address, but they will give us the IP information we need to use in the database.

• After opening one of the two windows, type in the command “ping” and the connection you are making. If looking for a website IP, this could look like “ping [www.website.com].”
• Alternatively, give the command “tracert” followed by your IP address. This will provide you with all the locations your data is going through. This could look like “tracert [IP address].”

2. Track an IP Address Down Using Email

Some email providers hide a receipt of IPs in the email settings. Note, however, that the information within email headers can be easily manipulated by hackers or software.

Although the specifics may vary slightly, the general process is the same:

• After opening the email, you want to get the IP from, find the options menu within the email. For some email providers, the icon that signifies this may be three dots, while others may have a small gear icon.
• Find the option that reads "open raw email" or "view original." This will open another window with the raw information about the email, including relevant IPs. However, there are going to be multiple IPs in this window. Use an online IP look-up tool to figure out which one is the one you need.

Again, IP sleuthing is only half of the goal. If we collect an IP from raw email data, we will still want to find out who owns this IP. We can do that by going to a database (below).

3. Use Command “Netstat” to Find an IP via Chat

This option may be difficult, depending on the circumstances at hand. Finding a device’s IP through a chat session or video call is possible. The tricky part is that the connection needs to be made before attempting or during a live interaction.

Note: This method only works if the connection is peer-to-peer; this won’t work on Slack, Discord, or any other third-party platform.

After establishing a live connection, open your computer’s Control Prompt or Terminal. Type in the command “netstat -an” and the results will come back with all the IP addresses currently connected to the device.

You may need to sift through some if you are particularly friendly. Use an online look-up tool to narrow down the options. After that, finding out who owns IP addresses is simple.

The ARIN WHOIS IP Address Database

A database is the easiest way to determine who owns an IP address. The ARIN WHOIS database is one available option.

You'll need an IP handy to find who owns an IP address. Preferably the IP in question was harvested from one of the above ways and not bought from the Dark Web.

After that, entering the IP into the database search bar will result in any available free information about the IP.

A note of caution: Although you can now track down an IP, it’s best to be weary since others can track down yours, too.