Whoops, my message was a bit too long, lemme try this again: Hi Chris and others (from the other jane, not the one asking):Some routers have software (well, I want to call it dnsmasq but I forgot the name) where it basically maps a semi-permanent IP based on a mac address. No need to configure it to be static, it's all done by the router. If your router falls under these (mine does, it's a linksys wrt54gl running dd-wrt), the DHCP assigned address will not change for the device even after reboots.
Also it's worthwhile to point out that to access your computer via ssh from another computer you *need* to forward port 22 or whatever you're using for ssh. You also need to know your IP address. Alternatively, your router might have software that works with no-ip.org or dyndns to provide a redirection service - e.g. no need to remember something like69.138.19.233 when you can have yourname.dyndns.org instead. This doesn't really compromise anything the IP doesn't already. Just have a sensible password, don't give it out to anyone. If you're slightly paranoid about that, set up ssh keys with a different passphrase. Then the attacker *must* have the key and the passphrase to do anything. If you still can't trust it, don't ssh at all, hehe. cheers, jane
