wireless internet-is someone using my connection?

futuresbright

I am using a linksys wireless modem router at home with wep security enabled,my daughters computer and my PDA also share connection.

when i go into the settings on router and go to "wireless clients connected" i can see another computer connected.

there is no computer name or IP address but there is a MAC address.

does anyone think someone has hacked into my network and is stealing my connection?

thanks for any advice.

-1-

Is it not just picking up the other device you say (either the PC or pda) whichever your not on ?.

Some people do go around searching for people who have wifi enabled at home and try and use it for free.

Usually if they are successfull they mark a chalked sign either on your wall or close to your house.

The signs differ but i have seen the figure 8 on it's side to mean free wifi although here

http://www.slackaction.com/signroll.htm (Hold your mouse over the signs).

the means something different.

Not sure if anyone else here can say yes or no about an unauthorised user but keep an eye out for marks anyway.

futuresbright

thanks for speedy reply.

when my other pc and pda are connected they show in the list of clients connected with the names i have given them and they also show their ip address.

could anyone tell me what a MAC address is please and is there anyway of finding out where its coming from?

i am going to look in router settings and see if there is a way of blocking a specific mac address and see what happens.

Redmikee

futuresbright wrote:

thanks for speedy reply.

when my other pc and pda are connected they show in the list of clients connected with the names i have given them and they also show their ip address.

could anyone tell me what a MAC address is please and is there anyway of finding out where its coming from?

i am going to look in router settings and see if there is a way of blocking a specific mac address and see what happens.

A mac address is a totally unique number and every network card has one. It is used to identify computers on a network.
The good news is that most routers have a facility called mac address filtering(it may be called something slightly different on your router). this will allow you to block the unidentified address. I would also change the wep password as well.

Mike

albertross_2

change your router default password, change your ssid, disable ssid broadcasting, and most importantly use WPA-PSK encryption (not WEP) with a 63 character key from https://www.grc.com/passwords. Then you network will be pretty secure.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2471408&postcount=37

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2471410&postcount=38

mac address filtering is useful, but if someone has already hacked your wep, they will know how to spoof their mac address as well.

Tallymanjohn

Put 'wep security' into Google & see how many links there are to methods of cracking it - you'll soon see why swapping to wpa is a necessity.