how to find out if someones using my internet

jamespir

my internet has become so slow and some pages take forever to load

i know theres not a problem with the laptop (run all neccesary tests) and the xbox runs slow too

did speed checker and i get just under 8mb a second the router is locked and passworded ( default one though)

but i think someone is usiing the net
i have a talk talk router with other routers ive had you could go into the settings and see what the connections were but this does not seem to have that option

can anyone help me find out who using it

gonzo127

dont know the talk talk router, however the eaiest thing to do (surely) would be to change the wireless key on the router - and potentially the type of encyption you are using (WPA as a minimum WPA2 is much better though, WEP is carp) and then just update your devices with the new settings.

If things suddenly speed up you know someone has managed to get your password or break the encyption, if it doesnt then its going to be something else

pogofish

Yup, change your passwords from default, increase your encryption and switch-off SSID broadcast. That will make your router more difficult to find and crack.

dogmaryxx

Download free trial of Who Is On My Wifi and run a scan.

espresso

jamespir wrote: »

my internet has become so slow and some pages take forever to load

i know theres not a problem with the laptop (run all neccesary tests) and the xbox runs slow too

did speed checker and i get just under 8mb a second the router is locked and passworded ( default one though)

but i think someone is usiing the net
i have a talk talk router with other routers ive had you could go into the settings and see what the connections were but this does not seem to have that option

can anyone help me find out who using it

The chances are that nobody is actually connecting to your internet via your wireless but it is very easy for you to check this, by simply connecting your laptop to the router with an Ethernet cable and turning off the wireless in the routers wireless set-up screen.

Do pages still take forever to load when connected as above?

Pay peanuts and what do you get?

InsideInsurance

Depends which router you have, but at a point when its running slow, turn off every network device you have other than 1 computer. Log into the maintenance screens for your router and look at the connected devices page. As long as you have turned off all mobiles and everything else with wifi you should only see one connected device. If you see more than one and your sure you've turned everything else off then evidently someone else is connected.

Change the ID and make sure broadcasting is off, change the password and if your router allows it block the MAC addresses of the unrecognised connected devices.

debitcardmayhem

I find that the taltalk dns servers can be very slow, I prefer to use opendns or google dns servers.
Edited:and wouldn't use their online safety product either.

phoneguy

From experience with TalkTalk, quite a lot of their Huawei routers are 'open to the elements' so to speak. This leaves them vulnerable to a number of attacks that include simple things such as changing DNS settings to point to rogue servers, adding routes to make your traffic pass through sniffers, and even opening up your firewall rules to get at the machines behind (typically looking for open shares and back up drives).

I'm not picking on TalkTalk here - other providers have their share of it to. It's just TalkTalk are a massive ISP. Neither is it an issue with the Huawei devices, they were just badly configured by default to let the world in. Ironically, because they are so reliable they have been quite attractive to a large subset of 'wannabee' hackers who have discovered how easy they are to get into.

In the interests of balance - it can happen regardless of ISP or router/modem - if the configuration of the device is not secure.

The golden rules are:
1) Change the password. admin/admin admin/password etc are rubbish. Use long complex passwords that contain uppercase,lowercase and digits. I won't go into password security - but things like L33TING (changing e's to 3's, S to 5 etc) are all classed as 'predictable'.

2) Disable 'remote administration' of the router unless you absolutely must have it. Sometimes this is phrased as something like 'management from WAN'.

3) Disable (or change credentials) on any additional default user accounts on a device. Zoom routers happen to have a really 'handy' additional user/user account that allows changes to be made to the device that are dangerous - even if you've changed the 'admin/admin' account.

4) Disable other administration services you don't need - in particular telnet. Most average users will never use it (many won't even have a clue what it is) but it is fast and deadly for attackers if it happens to be open to the elements.

5) Make sure the wireless is secure.
* Make sure you are using WPA/WPA2 encryption. Don't use WEP as it was compromised years ago.
* Ensure the key is long and complex. WPA can be trivially cracked if you have a lame, common passphrase.
* Old Wives Tale: Some people will tell you to disable the BSSID (or the broadcast of the wireless name). I'd personally say 'don't bother'. Security by obscurity is no security and free tools/scanners will find it regardless of if it is being broadcast or not. It's more likely to give you the dog trying to connect, than offer any security against a wireless hacker of even 'entry level' skill.

"Slowness" has innumerable causes. I tend to like to rule out physical telco issue with the line, or contention/congestion issues with the ISP before I start looking at:

* compromised DNS/Routing (slow replies/path) Tools like nslookup/tracert (on Windows) can help pinpoint this - but you need to have some idea what you are looking for. I routinely recommend TalkTalk users change their settings to use Google's free public name servers at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 respectively - unless they have a good reason not to.
* tons of updates/traffic/downloads
* someone else using your internet (typically they would have to be shifting shed loads of data for you to notice)
* a hacker attached who happens to be uploading your photos, movies, data, pst files, backups etc that you happen to have saved on share open to the world
*virus (spamware/bot) eating traffic

There are probably others too, can't think of them off the top of my head.

espresso

phoneguy wrote: »

5) Make sure the wireless is secure.
* Make sure you are using WPA/WPA2 encryption. Don't use WEP as it was compromised years ago.
* Ensure the key is long and complex. WPA can be trivially cracked if you have a lame, common passphrase.
* Old Wives Tale: Some people will tell you to disable the BSSID (or the broadcast of the wireless name). I'd personally say 'don't bother'. Security by obscurity is no security and free tools/scanners will find it regardless of if it is being broadcast or not. It's more likely to give you the dog trying to connect, than offer any security against a wireless hacker of even 'entry level' skill.

Exactly, a couple of old wives tale believers have already posted this urban myth in this thread. Hiding the SSID does absolutely nothing for wireless security and can cause you problems when another local chooses to use the channel that you are using hidden, because they think that it is unused. Anyone who can hack into your wireless network will still see your network regardless of if the SSID is broadcast.

Niv

I have a little icon on the right of my task bar (by the clock) that will tell me what computers are on my network if I click it. I thought it was a common (default) thing, or am I over simplifying here?

Niv

John_Gray

espresso wrote: »

Hiding the SSID does absolutely nothing for wireless security and can cause you problems when another local chooses to use the channel that you are using hidden, because they think that it is unused.

I agree with the first part of your sentence. But surely "hiding the SSID" simply prevents anyone knowing that your router is at "23 Railway Cuttings" (or their real postal address - yes, it happens!), or whatever network name they have chosen, and shows your network as "(hidden)", or similar? The actual broadcasting and use of a particular channel is still visible, surely, and the channel won't show as unused...

Oh, and I forgot to say that the best wireless security available to us mere mortals is the combination of WPA2 with AES. (But of course hardwired ethernet connections are even safer...)