Is Someone Stealing My WiFi? - Comments Page 1

Here in Israel the main (formerly Government) telecom co actually invites you to share your network with unlimited passers-by in return for being enabled to use theirs when out of the house or office! I have always felt this seemed to be an incredible risk and an unbelievably irresponsible offer.

nothing for XP?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Not sure what you mean. The router method works for any operating system. The Who's On My Wifi program works on XP.

I'm surprised the "blocking" feature of WhoIsOnMyWifi merely floods instead of blocking. There is usually some sort of setting within the browser that basically says which MAC addresses can be allowed to connect. Does that block other devices with different MAC addresses?

"Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you" - it would be nice to be able to check. Thanks for the article.
Is there anything similar to "Network" that you described for Windows 7 also in Windows XP? I'd like to be able to do the same on my aging operating system.

As you so rightly said Bob, none of the Utilities mentioned in the first 6 or 7 paragraphs alerts you when an unauthorized device connects to your network.

You then go on to mention a Windows utility called WhoIsOnMyWiFi and say that your intuition tells you that having it permanently running in the system tray would necessarily have some impact on the speed of your wireless network. And that a better idea might be that once an intruder is detected, you should change your router's wifi access password, then restart the router, which would boot the intruder from your network entirely, without continuously draining network resources.

I deduce two points from the above: the first is that you yourself do not see the need to run WhoIsOnMyWiFi. And the second is that you might need to run it for years before an intruder was ever detected, in which case it would 'necessarily have some impact on the speed of your wireless network' for all that time!

So the burning question is that as you do not see the need to run WhoIsOnMyWiFi yourself, do you nonetheless believe that any/all/most of your readers should install and run it?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Here's why... have you ever had a SUSPICION that someone was connecting to your wifi? I have, and would have loved a utility like WOMW, if it had been available. Shortly after Verizon installed FIOS here years ago, cars were parking in front of my house, at all hours of the day. It took me way too long to realize that the Verizon techs left the wifi completely open, no password. I wouldn't recommend running it 24/7/365. But in cases where you're worried about possible intruders, it sounds like a good tool.

You are a lifesaver !! I use Wireless Network Watcher to monitor my WiFi.For the past couple weeks an IP shows up that I know isn't anything I use. It shows 192.168.2.15 and the name is Thompson Inc. My closest neighbor is at least 0.1 miles away. About a year ago the program show an IP I didn't recognize and I believe it was the same one. I did a search on that IP Adress and I am sure it showed the same name. Shortly before that happened I read where some, possibly all the new electric utility meters had transmitters the relayed the usages. And that it was suspected that they also monitored what household items were in a house and the comsumption. After I did the search the IP stopped showing up. That made me wonder if they had a way to see if anyone was searching and trying to determine who they were and it allowed them to disable the monitoring module. I didn't even know that the meter had been changed from the older type that required it to be read by a meter reading service. I remembered that I hadn't seem them around for sometime.I know a man that use to work for the utility company but I doubt that anyone there would tell him if they did know. Thanks for the information !! I have the program running now and have that IP blocked.

I'm using Clear. Can that be accessed by other users as well?

BT broadband hubs have two wifi channels - the subscribers and a second 'public' channel (so that they can advertise thousands of free access points). Do you feel there is any security risk leaving this 'public' service active and un-monitored?

EDITOR'S NOTE: That reduces the risk of malicious intruders accessing your files. But it does nothing to prevent people from using your Internet connection to commit crimes.

I can go into my router settings and whitelist all the MAC addresses of any devices I want to allow to use my Wi-Fi, of I can allow all connections and blacklist any that I don't want. I like the whitelist option, which although not hard to circumvent, adds an extra layer of security if I have a strong password. Essentially, that is doing manually what WOMW does except for the continuous monitoring. Don't all routers have something like that?

Typing "network" and clicking on the search result "network" does not reveal anything on my windows 7 machine. It's blank.

I would suggest Disable "Broadcast of SSID",a looooong Alphanumeric special char., case sensitive password to connect, as well as encryption (WPA2-AES+)I personally put my wireless "Guest NET" in a DMZ on a FireWall. Route all DMZ traffic to WAN only. Deny all DMZ to LAN traffic.
First they have to find it, then crack my Scrabble password & encryption, only to be rewarded w/I-Net connectivity but no LAN connectivity.

Also use MAC address filtering and change the "channel" from the default on your wireless router to anything else.

I would like to know how to protect hotel/motel wifi connections to my laptop. Or can it be done? If you were on a public [hotel] wifi right now and ran the 'network' test, would it indicate just you or everyone in the hotel using it?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Public wifi is not secure, unless you're using an encrypted (HTTPS) connection.

Re. In Windows 7... What if you are a MAC user?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The router method (which is best) will work for any operating system.

It's great to understand the concepts,terminology & protocols behind the dilema of network abuse by neighbors. However, I'm just simply interested in which program I can use to control these unwanted users of my wifi. Please advise.

EDITOR'S NOTE: But I did just that in the article!

http://www.softperfect.com/products/wifiguard/ for a FREE product similar to whoisonmywifi

I admit I am one of those who parks my car near an available Wifi connection and uses it to surf the net. Your article was well-timed, and I intend to stop this with effect from today. Thanks.

I use a free "Wireless Network Watcher" from Nirsoft.net on my system connected to my router.

While I agree with all you suggest, I feel you missed a REALLY key suggestion. Most routers have a "MAC Filter" that will allow you to pre-determine which devices can connect. If a MAC address is not on the list, access is denied.

Should you not wish to use the MAC filter that way, it can generally be used to deny access to listed devices. Don't just change the password, get the MAC address that was accessing your router and deny access to it through the MAC filter!

A few believe filtering to allow devices is sufficient security; I do not. But I strongly believe it is a valuable tool and use it on all my routers.

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