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Can emails be hijacked via a router?

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Really sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm really not good with tech stuff.

I have a Netgear wireless router hooked up to a home network.
I have no idea what routers are for - all I know is that they're something to do with the internet (!)

Is it at all feasible for the router administrator to be able to somehow intercept emails going in/out from yahoo accounts or aol accounts?
It's nice to be important.....but it's more important to be nice :)
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  • closed
    closed Posts: 10,886 Forumite
    edited 8 July 2010 at 9:57PM
    Not really, but if the wireless signal is unencrypted, anyone (with a bit of know how) in range can read them at the time they are sent.

    Routers maintain your connection to the internet, and share out the internet connection amongst all connected pc's.
    !!
    > . !!!! ----> .
  • fwor
    fwor Posts: 6,861 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    In theory, it may well be possible, because the administrator could - for example - create a routing table entry that would direct traffic from those providers' mail servers back out to another IP address somewhere else on the internet.

    In practice I'm fairly sure it would be very difficult to do.

    What makes you think that it might be happening?
  • d-seven
    d-seven Posts: 351 Forumite
    Mortgage-free Glee!
    July1962 wrote: »
    Really sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm really not good with tech stuff.

    I have a Netgear wireless router hooked up to a home network.
    I have no idea what routers are for - all I know is that they're something to do with the internet (!)

    Is it at all feasible for the router administrator to be able to somehow intercept emails going in/out from yahoo accounts or aol accounts?

    Many years ago, I used a packet sniffer on my own computer and sent and recieved email, and monitored the results. The surprising results were that pop3/smtp email was plain text; passwords 'n' all! Sometime after I spoke to someone who was into errrm haxx0ring and he told me that unsecured email was just plain text. So yes, if someone is monitoring your wireless network, they could see this.
    You need to make sure your router is encrypted with WPA rather than WEP encryption.
  • weegie.geek
    weegie.geek Posts: 3,432 Forumite
    It's very possible for the router administrator to do that, yep.

    The router probably provides the PC with DNS server details. All it takes is for the router to provide a DNS server where mail.yahoo.co.uk or whatever resolves to another mail server that can intercept the mails being sent, steal your password, do whatever they want to your emails and then relay them on via the real yahoo mail servers, so you wouldn't know any different.

    It's unlikely to be happening, but it's definitely possible. It's more likely the net admin would just mess with you.

    If you're using a network you can't trust (for example a neighbour's wireless network, on the fly) then you're taking a real chance.

    Is there a reason you're asking? If you tell us what's going on we can probably put your mind at rest.
    They say it's genetic, they say he can't help it, they say you can catch it - but sometimes you're born with it
  • July1962
    July1962 Posts: 910 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker Photogenic
    I guess I'm just paranoid, lol.
    When you don't fully understand something it can make you wonder a bit - especially if somebody tells you your emails aren't 100% safe if you have a router.
    It's nice to be important.....but it's more important to be nice :)
  • d-seven
    d-seven Posts: 351 Forumite
    Mortgage-free Glee!
    It's actually illegal to leech someone elses wireless connection, but also, they can use it for more nefarious ends :(
    For instance, I was walking down the road a few years back.. I saw a car parked up and the driver had a laptop. After a sly glance, I saw he was looking at pr0n, most likely leeching the wireless connection off one of the nearby houses....
    I leeched a neighbours connection once when my ISP briefly went titsup in order to find out the phone number of my ISP... my nieghbour's router was totally open.. and the same type as mine.. which meant I knew the default user name and password....I did log in to the admin page, only to see if I could!
    Use encryption and change the default user name and password for the admin!!!!!
  • rdpro
    rdpro Posts: 607 Forumite
    Also change the SSID (the 'wireless visible name') of the router - it's so easy to look up the default logins for known routers that identify themselves as 'Sky' or 'Netgear' - change it to 'Dave' :D
    IT Field Service Engineer, 20 years with screwdriver and hammer :)
  • July1962
    July1962 Posts: 910 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker Photogenic
    Would messages sent via Myspace or Facebook pages also go via the router?
    I'm just trying to suss out the 'safest' way of communicating online - although I guess that nothing is 100% safe...
    It's nice to be important.....but it's more important to be nice :)
  • weegie.geek
    weegie.geek Posts: 3,432 Forumite
    edited 9 July 2010 at 12:02AM
    Everything goes via the router.

    Unless you don't trust the person whose internet connection it is, I wouldn't worry too much about this. You're never 100% safe, the data has to travel through several computers and routers between you and facebook.

    If you're this worried, you're either paranoid to the point of neurosis, or you shouldn't be doing whatever you are doing.
    They say it's genetic, they say he can't help it, they say you can catch it - but sometimes you're born with it
  • closed
    closed Posts: 10,886 Forumite
    edited 8 July 2010 at 10:51PM
    If the wireless signal is encrypted, it's safe.

    However, if you are paranoid about privacy, Facebook and myspace aren't the safest means of communicating.
    !!
    > . !!!! ----> .
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