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While using FB, I observed many friends playing games such as "Which character you are from some particular web series or movie?" I think this can be dangerous because when I clicked on CLICK TO PLAY button of one of those games, I opened the privacy policy page of that product.ON this page, it is mentioned that some third parties advertisers associated with that product can collect our IP address.

Then, I searched on internet what someone can do with my ip address and got to know that our account can be hacked easily if someone knows our IP Address. So, I think it can be dangerous to play these games on FB. So, I want to ask the experts present here whether it is a matter of concern for all people who just click on and then play these games for fun?

schroeder
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KhiladiBhaiyya
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    What you are basically asking is "To what risk am I exposed when someone knows my IP?" –  Apr 16 '20 at 16:22
  • Related question: [Is publishing your public IP address a security threat?](/q/35160/129883) But that question seems to be specific to business environments, which have some differences from home environments. – Fire Quacker Apr 16 '20 at 16:29
  • Does this answer your question? [An attacker has my IP address;So what?](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/79583/an-attacker-has-my-ip-addressso-what) – Fire Quacker Apr 16 '20 at 16:45

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So the primary concern of Facebook games is privacy. If you play a Facebook game, there's a good chance that your information is being shared with somebody, who will sell it to somebody else who will use it to target you with specific advertisements.

But let me remind you that you're using Facebook.

The IP address can go in there as well. IP addresses don't always provide an accurate location, and they don't always stay the same, but they can provide one extra piece of signal for the algorithms.

As far as security, your IP address is already being scanned every day by potential attackers. This is called the background noise of the Internet. Most home users don't have anything for the scanners to find, unless they're exposing a media server or file server to the Internet. If you do that, make sure everything is up to date and that you use strong passwords. Unless you've got some opening like that, DoS is about the only thing an attacker would do with your IP address.

When we come to Facebook games, though, consider this: Why would a gaming company scan your IP address or do a DoS just because you play their game?

Fire Quacker
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There is not a whole lot that can be done with an IP address. It's kind of like your home address. As long as the locks on your door (passwords to services running on your computer/router) are good, no one should break in (brute force attacks). Of course people can damage your house (DDoS/DoS attacks) or peek through your windows if they're creepy like that (port scanning / service detection) but it is unlikely anyone would go out of their way to do that, especially if they have nothing personally against you, which the author of a Facebook game is unlikely to do. Besides, you are basically freely handing over your IP address to any website you visit so it's not like IPs are kept secret. It's comparable to putting the return address on a letter (packet) you send.

I would be more concerned about session cookies. If those games can run arbitrary JavaScript, and are hosted on Facebook directly as opposed to, say, being an iframe of a different website, they are likely to have access to your Facebook cookies which are keeping track of your login status etc.

user9123
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