"Suspicious sign in prevented" in gmail account from odd IP address

July 3, 2012 8:26 AM

A couple weeks ago I got an email from google to my gmail account that there was a "Suspicious sign in prevented". I changed my pw and all that, and there've been no more attempts and I'm not overly concerned anymore. However, I am pretty curious. The IP address google reported isn't one that pulls up any info when I look it up, and I'm just wondering if anyone can shed any light on what this might signify and a potential origin -- private proxy of some sort? The IPv4 is 255.0.15.210. IPv6 2600:1003:b011:e219::103 .

thanks!

posted by grammalvsu to Technology (7 answers total)

There's a good chance whomever tried signing in was using something like TOR that can bounce your proxy. In other words, the proxy that shows isn't actually the proxy of the computer in question.
posted by Eicats at 9:18 AM on July 3, 2012

This may be a foolish question, but are you completely certain it was a legitimate email from Google?
posted by pdq at 9:19 AM on July 3, 2012

Response by poster: @pdq Very appropriate question in this context, definitely. But yes, I confirmed email was from [e-mail] and when I look at the gmail ip access log, the mystery IP is listed there, pinned at the top and shaded in red due to its special "suspect" status I guess.
posted by grammalvsu at 9:30 AM on July 3, 2012

As shown here, any IPv4 address with the first octet "255" is not assigned as part of the public IP range; it does not fall into any of the five primary classes. This would indicate that either a) the address was recorded incorrectly or b) given incorrectly (whether through error or being spoofed).

You won't be able to find any information on the IPV4 one because it's not a valid address for internet use, and will never have been assigned by any ISP. I'll leave someone else to speak for IPv6, I don't know much about what information can be gleaned there.
posted by fearnothing at 9:37 AM on July 3, 2012

The IPv6 address is assigned to Verizon Wireless.
posted by grouse at 9:58 AM on July 3, 2012

I had some weird issues with my Verizon phone (see grouse's reply) saying that my Google password was incorrect in the last 7-10 days. I couldn't find anything untoward or suspicious. Perhaps there was a hiccup in the Verizon matrix?
posted by kuanes at 11:06 AM on July 3, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks everyone.
posted by grammalvsu at 5:11 PM on July 3, 2012