Understanding IP Scores: Active Risk & Fraud Analysis

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What makes one IP address riskier than another? It’s not a simple answer and you may get differing opinions. A comprehensive approach to analyzing an IP address is needed to determine its quality. A granular look at the following factors helps to determine an IP risk score:

• Abuse Reports — Check reports of spamming, hacking, or fraudulent activity
• IP Blocklist Status — Check for the presence of an IP on reputable IP block lists
• Historical IP Behavior — Analyze and compare activities associated with an IP address
• Geography — Evaluate whether the IP is in a high- or low-risk location
• Associated Devices — Examine the number and diversity of devices connected to an IP
• Network Reputation — Asses an IP address’s network reputation, based on its hosting provider and surrounding IP ranges
• High-Risk Connections — Investigate use of proxies, VPNs or TOR networks
• IP Type — Discover whether the IP belongs to a residential network, data center or hosting provider
• Recent Behavior Patterns — Determine frequency of suspicious activities, such as repeated failed logins or automated browsing

To delve deeper into what makes an IP address risky, we invite you to explore our dedicated resource How IP Quality Scores Are Calculated. You’ll find expanded information on each factor, additional data considerations, and further insights to enhance your knowledge there. 

IP Database Size

Active IP Reputation Data Collection

• Ad-tech platform partnerships — Working with the world’s largest ad-tech platforms to document risky IP behavior
• Honeypot traps — Placing code on websites that only fraudsters will see and react to, identifying those IPs as risky
• Client partnerships — Identifying bad IP addresses and sharing across the platform
• Device monitoring — Analyzing data on what devices use IP addresses and what that implies about the risk

Data Refresh Rates

• IP reputation score
• Recent suspicious activity
• Block list status
• Associated risk factors (e.g., proxy or VPN use)

• Marketers / Ad Performance —  Ensures ad impressions and clicks are generated by legitimate users, maximizing ROI and reducing wasted spend on fraudulent activity
• Retailers / Fraud Prevention — Allows businesses to flag or block potentially fraudulent transactions, safeguarding financial systems and preventing chargebacks
• Platforms / User Experience — Assists in preventing bad actors from accessing your platform, maintaining a secure and seamless experience for legitimate users
• IT Professionals / Network Monitoring — Continuously monitors data for greater insight to platform administrators

To gain a more complete understanding of how IP scoring can be applied to assist with fraud prevention, we recommend reading How IP Risk Scoring Prevents Fraud, our resource explaining how different industries and professionals utilize IP risk scoring at scale.  

Your IP address acts as your digital fingerprint online, playing a crucial role in how various internet services assess your reliability. Email providers, websites, and security systems all monitor IP reputations to make trust-based decisions.

When your business IP address develops a poor reputation, you may find your emails landing in spam folders, your access to certain services blocked, or your activities triggering security flags.

If your IP address is flagged with a high-risk score, here are steps you can take to recover:

1. Identify Blacklist Status 
   Use tools to identify which blacklists your IP appears on. Each blacklist service provides instructions for delisting, typically requiring verification that the issues have been resolved.
2. Secure Your Network 
   Ensure that devices using the IP address are secure and free of malware. Regularly update software, use strong passwords, and monitor network traffic for suspicious activities.
3. Avoid High-Risk Practices 
   If you’re using proxies or VPNs, consider switching to a direct connection for activities that require a trusted reputation, such as sending emails or processing transactions.
4. Warm Up New IPs 
   For businesses sending emails, an IP warm-up strategy can help build a positive reputation over time. Start with a low volume of emails and gradually increase the number to demonstrate legitimate usage patterns.

For a thorough overview of how businesses can strengthen or damage their IP reputation, along with practical methods for managing it, please consult How to Protect & Improve Your IP Reputation Score in our resources.

• Largest database of IP reputation and historical data
• Partnerships with the largest ad-tech platforms
• Over 300 million active IP risk honeypot traps
• Over 1.2 billion devices monitored
• IP reputation data collected in real-time
• IP risk database refreshed hourly

When you check the reputation of IPs interacting with your platforms, you can protect your operations, reduce risks, and preserve your brand’s credibility. Monitor your users’ IPs to prevent disruptions and enhance your own digital properties’ trustworthiness.

IP address fraud score calculations are made using a sophisticated technical process heavily dependent on the quality of underlying datasets. This complex methodology incorporates multiple analytical factors combined to identify potentially fraudulent activity. For a comprehensive understanding of IP scoring systems, we invite you to explore these informative resources:

• How IP Quality Scores Are Calculated
• 3 Core Data Components of Accurate IP Fraud Scores
• How IP Risk Scoring Prevents Fraud
• How to Protect & Improve Your IP Reputation Score
• IP Risk Score API Integration