Could someone be hacking into our internet?

macman

If your son is in charge of security, are you sure he hasn't lent your encryption key to his pal a couple of doors away?
To change the password you simply log into the router interface, go to the wireless security settings, change it and log out again. No security is secure if you just use the original defaults.
If you post the make and model of the router then someone can tell you how to log in.
There are loads of free tools for monitoring your data usage (such as NetMonitor).

S0litaire

What Wireless router you using?

You can restrict what devices can get access to the wireless using "MAC" codes (MAC is a unique code every network / wireless device has) If you set that up then it will not matter if you have a password or not (or how strong it is) as if the MAC address don't match you won't get access!

It's usually called "Address Reservation" and it has the advantage of fixing the ip address of the machine at the routers end, so you don't need to change anything on the machines in your house's internal network.

esuhl

mamazaac wrote: »

Ok... have managed to establish that it is WPA-PSK...

Yep - that should be fine. WPA2 is very slightly better, but WPA would be difficult for even a skilled cracker to decrypt (assuming the password is long enough). I use WPA myself without any concerns.

mamazaac wrote: »

As for changing the password or making sure it's long enough, can't seem to find how to do that - there is a row of stars against 'password' so know one is there, but not sure where to go to change it.

I should probably mention that routers are often supplied with "standard" username/password combinations. If you find that you haven't changed the default password, it's a good idea to double-check that the settings haven't been changed by someone else to make it easier for them to gain access in future. They might even have changed the password! If in doubt, you should be able to reset the router to the factory settings - just make sure you have the details you need to connect to the Internet again!

mamazaac wrote: »

Wasn't aware that software used bandwidth - does it do this when you are using the software but don't have any internet pages open?

A web browser is software, and obviously needs a network connection so that you can view websites. Maybe you have Outlook or Thunderbird email clients. That's software too, and you can't download emails if the software can't use your Internet connection. Your antivirus is software and needs to download updates... You get the idea!

In case you're interested (sorry in advance if you're not!)... There's no such thing as an Internet page. The Internet is just the infrastructure of cables, hardware devices etc. that allow computers to communicate.

The (World Wide) Web is the content that you see in your web browser (i.e. a "web page"), which is made up of a collection of files that are stored on servers and transmitted using the Internet.

You are "using" (or at least "connected to") the Internet all the time your router is on. Software on your PC can use your bandwidth at any time - not just when you have a web page open.

mamazaac wrote: »

This could be the answer. Is there a way to find out if this is happening and what software is causing it?

Good question. I'm not using Windows myself at the moment, but I've just had a quick search and come across a program called NetLimiter 2 that looks quite helpful...

Another way to control which applications are permitted to access the Internet would be to install a software firewall. If you configure it correctly, the first time an application tries to send/receive data across your network, it will ask whether to allow or block the application. You can set it to "always allow" or "always block" or manually create rules to define which applications are allowed access.

Unfortunately there aren't (in my opinion) any good free firewalls for Windows. Comodo is probably the best, but when I tried it, it ignored my rules and allowed traffic that it should have blocked. The only way I could get it to work was to disable Defense+ and set it to "Custom" mode immediately after installing.

mamazaac wrote: »

...don't use Linux, don't know what BitTorrent is I'm afraid but probably not.

I was joking about Linux (using it as a euphemism for other material with less friendly copyright terms). BitTorrent (and other filesharing methods such as Limewire - if it's still exists) are often used to download illegal content...

You say you have a 12 year old son... I certainly wouldn't accuse him of anything untoward (hence the tongue-in-cheek comment about Linux), but you might want to double-check with him...

mamazaac wrote: »

Usage since last Sunday is normal, so maybe some kind of glitch with Madasafish - from post #7 it looks as though this sort of thing happens.

I doubt it, but I suppose it's possible. I would have thought it more likely that you have an application that's using the bandwidth somewhere...

Anyway, hope that helps a bit (sorry for waffling on!)

mamazaac

macman wrote: »

If your son is in charge of security, are you sure he hasn't lent your encryption key to his pal a couple of doors away?

esuhl wrote: »

You say you have a 12 year old son... I certainly wouldn't accuse him of anything untoward (hence the tongue-in-cheek comment about Linux), but you might want to double-check with him...

I wouldn't say my son "is in charge of security", I just meant that he knows his way around a computer so if there is anything technical that needs doing I usually just ask him to do it. And he always runs any changes he wants to make past me first. He doesn't have any friends near enough and, anyway, is very aware from me telling him off for going away and leaving the pc with a web page open that we only have a 5GB limit.

Don't think this is down to him doing anything he shouldn't be as he uses google chrome on the family computer, so it's easy to see what websites he has visited and I keep a watchful eye on what websites he is visiting when he is on the computer (+ parental controls in place), plus he's very good about abiding by the house rule of not downloading anything without checking with me first. If it is down to him, think is more likely that he is using some software or an application that neither of us realised would do that, (he has been building his own website lately, so maybe something to do with that).

S0litaire wrote: »

What Wireless router you using?

Thomson Speedtouch 576

esuhl wrote: »

I should probably mention that routers are often supplied with "standard" username/password combinations.

macman wrote: »

To change the password you simply log into the router interface, go to the wireless security settings, change it and log out again. No security is secure if you just use the original defaults.

Yes, probably just using the one it came with, but still can't find how to change it. Only way I can find to get into router is to double click the speedtouch icon in 'Network', which opens up a web page. There are all sorts of different settings I can change, but cannot see anything about changing the password!

macman wrote: »

There are loads of free tools for monitoring your data usage (such as NetMonitor)

esuhl wrote: »

I've just had a quick search and come across a program called NetLimiter 2 that looks quite helpful...

Thank you, wasn't aware of this - will get one of these.

S0litaire wrote: »

You can restrict what devices can get access to the wireless using "MAC" codes (MAC is a unique code every network / wireless device has) If you set that up then it will not matter if you have a password or not (or how strong it is) as if the MAC address don't match you won't get access!

This would seem to be something I should do. Do you know how I could set it up please?

esuhl wrote: »

Another way to control which applications are permitted to access the Internet would be to install a software firewall. Comodo is probably the best, but when I tried it, it ignored my rules and allowed traffic that it should have blocked. The only way I could get it to work was to disable Defense+ and set it to "Custom" mode immediately after installing.

Will look into this if the problem persists.

esuhl wrote: »

(sorry for waffling on!)

Please don't apologise, I am grateful for everybody's help.:)

macman

A web page is what you're looking for-that's the router interface which opens in your web browser. Go into the wireless setiings section to change the encryption key and enable MAC filtering (or possibly under 'security').

esuhl

mamazaac wrote: »

{M}y son... is very aware from me telling him off for going away and leaving the pc with a web page open that we only have a 5GB limit.

When you open a web page, you can probably see an animated progress meter or tab icon showing that the page is loading. Once the animation stops, the files needed to display the web page have been downloaded to your computer so leaving the web page open won't use any more bandwidth.

There are a few exceptions to that - web pages with embedded media (video/audio) might download the whole media file in the background, and some (very few) web pages will be set to automatically refresh every few seconds - usually pages showing up-to-date statistics such as share prices or other continually changing data.

Anyway, 5GB/month is not a lot. Watching 25 minutes of video every day could easily result in you going over that. Open a few YouTube pages (which load video in the background) and you could go over that even if you don't play the video!

mamazaac wrote: »

Thomson Speedtouch 576...

Yes, probably just using the {password} it came with, but still can't find how to change it. Only way I can find to get into router is to double click the speedtouch icon in 'Network', which opens up a web page. There are all sorts of different settings I can change, but cannot see anything about changing the password!

You might want to have a look at the Thomson SpeedTouch 576 manual online. I have a similar router, and to change the password I'd go to Toolbox / User Management / Change my password.

S0litaire wrote: »

You can restrict what devices can get access to the wireless using "MAC" codes... then it will not matter if you have a password or not (or how strong it is) as if the MAC address don't match you won't get access!

mamazaac wrote: »

This would seem to be something I should do. Do you know how I could set it up please?

Restricting access by MAC address is NOT secure! It may add another level of complexity for a hacker wishing to gain access, but MAC addresses can very easily be changed and bypassing such restrictions is almost trivially easy. By all means use MAC filtering if you wish (I do!), but don't rely on it. Think of it as something that might annoy a hacker and slow them down a tiny bit; not something that will stop them. Having a strong WPA/WPA2 password is much, much more important.

If you want to restrict devices by MAC address, look in the manual for details of what Thomson call the "Access Control List" (ACL).

mamazaac wrote: »

Please don't apologise, I am grateful for everybody's help.:)

I'm glad I haven't bored you yet, then! Give it time...

mamazaac

esuhl wrote: »

When you open a web page, you can probably see an animated progress meter or tab icon showing that the page is loading. Once the animation stops, the files needed to display the web page have been downloaded to your computer so leaving the web page open won't use any more bandwidth.

This is what my husband says but, I can link to my daily usage on my ISP's website and, in the past, I have made a note of what the usage is, gone away for half an hour leaving a web page open, then returned and the usage has increased (only marginally). I, therefore, thought my husband must be wrong and that leaving a web page open was causing this. Do you have any thoughts on why this might happen if not because the page is left open please?

fenlander_uk

I think you should be aware that 10GB is really a very tight usage cap. If you do nothing but browse and use email, it may well cover your needs most of the time. However, it really doesn't take much to push you over the limit - a game, software or video download, a session on a site where you browse through a lot of photos, watching the video reports on news sites or, as someone has suggested, a major Windows update. To put it in perspective, 10GB is just over 300MB per day - that's less that a single 45-minute TV episode in standard definition. A single movie in HD could exceed your total monthly allowance.

A couple of little things:
- if you use software that has an option to update automatically, you might want to turn that option off. Windows can also be set to ask before downloading updates. That way you control when you download data. Make sure you leave auto-updates enabled for your anti-virus, though.
- use an ad-blocker when browsing. Ads just consume bandwidth and who needs them?
- remember that if you have a 12-year old now, you'll have a teenager soon. Data consumption increases in proportion to age.:D

esuhl

mamazaac wrote: »

This is what my husband says but, I can link to my daily usage on my ISP's website and, in the past, I have made a note of what the usage is, gone away for half an hour leaving a web page open, then returned and the usage has increased (only marginally). I, therefore, thought my husband must be wrong and that leaving a web page open was causing this. Do you have any thoughts on why this might happen if not because the page is left open please?

Three possible reasons:

1) The page is set to automatically refresh. Effectively this means that web page will ask your computer to download a fresh copy of the page after a certain time interval (say, every 5 seconds).

If, when you left the web page open, the statistics had updated themselves automatically, then the web page is probably auto-refreshing. Very few web pages do this - usually only pages containing figures that are continually updated (like share prices; router statistics showing how long you've been connected to your ISP, how many packets have been sent/received, etc.)

2) Some funky script running on a page that requests data (e.g. you visit a video page on YouTube, the page loads completely, but then a script on the page downloads the whole video in the background so the video will play smoothly and you can jump forward/backwards without having to wait for that part of the video to be downloaded).

3) Other software running on the PC or your network. Your router may send/receive the odd packet just to confirm that the network is working properly. Your PC may also send the odd packet back and forth to confirm that it's connected to the router. The amount of traffic that will be sent in these cases is tiny.

You may have software that connects to servers to determine whether the software you have is up-to-date (e.g. web browser, browser add-ons, antivirus and other anti-malware applications, sidebar "widgets" that repeatedly connect to your email server to inform you when you have new messages, Windows Update checking whether you have the latest updates or Java Runtime Environment or CCleaner doing the same, etc.)

To get a fine control over what applications are transmitting/receiving data, you'd really need to install a software firewall and set it to ask you before automatically allowing any traffic.

MackemPunk

Going to ask a obvious question, does your son own a Playstion 3, xbox 360 or Wii? If he does it could be the online features of these using bandwith.