If a stranger successfully gets on to your Wi-Fi network, they may be stealing more than bandwidth. After all, they have access to your computers.
Your home network should be more secure than the one at the café down the street. But how you can tell if you have a freeloader on your wireless network?
Improve wireless security
The first thing you need to do is make sure that no one can get into that network easily. That means setting up your router to use WPA, or better, WPA-2 security.
Check your router's documentation. However, generally, you enter a particular IP address into a browser, which will take you to an HTML-based configuration program located inside the router's firmware.
Setting up security will require you to create a password. Make it a strong password that no one will be able to guess. But remember that you'll have to enter that password into every computer, smartphone, Blu-ray player or other Wi-Fi-equipped device in your home, including overnight guests' laptops. (HDTVs and Blu-ray players are the worst for entering passwords - remote controls just aren't friendly for text entry.)
Catching wireless trespassers
Okay, I've told you how to control who gets access, but how do you see if someone is on your network who shouldn't be?
Once again, you turn towards your router's configuration program. Somewhere in there, probably in a menu called Wireless or Status, you'll find a list of all current wireless clients. You won't be able to identify those clients at a glance, but you will be able to see how many there are. That can tell you if there's an extra.
But before you count too many and panic, think hard about what devices may be legitimately using your Wi-Fi. When researching this article, my router told me I had five wireless clients. I could only identify four. Turns out my daughter's iPhone had Wi-Fi turned on.
You can identify the clients you know via their MAC Address, which has nothing to do with Apple Computers (although Macs do have MAC addresses). These numbers are unique for each device that can get onto a network. You can go to each legitimate WiFi client and find its MAC address, although how to do it depends on the device. For instance, on a Windows PC, go to a Command Prompt window, type ipconfig /all, and press ENTER. The MAC address is listed as the "physical address".
If you're wondering about past freeloaders, your router's configuration program should have a log somewhere. It should also have a tool for blocking undesirable MAC addresses.
Comments
pjw said: JudaZ while there is software that can spoof a MAC address it is certainly not as simple as jumping onto someones unfiltered unpassworded network For people who do not know much of WiFi security this is a good starting pointAlso a network that shows even those most rudimentary signs of resistance - passworded and optionally MAC-filtered - will be this much appetizing for the freeloader who might look for a simpler target
JudaZ said: You cant block mac adressesthe attacker or freeloader can just change the mac adress to one of your computers then you are screwed anyaways Since all devices broadcast their mac adresses its not like that is hard to figure outsorry this article doesnt do much to protect a network you will only catch simpletons
JudaZ said: So what do you do if more then one device have the same Mac adress There is no such thing as a secure Wireless network only more secure or less secure