[Closed] Internet usage question

At least you got a letter. I just got a bill for £35 on the one single month I went over the limit in about 7 years of having it (BT too).

And change your password then they can't get in (if you think that is what is happening).

I asusme you have a wireless connection? Log into the router and check for attached devices.

Have you been using BBC iplayer at all?

Password already changed.

It was password-protected before but visible on a search of wireless newtworks.
Is it relatively easy to hack an account even if password-protected if you can find it on an area search?

Now this has me worried .....

Can people hi-jack a wireless connection when password connected? I assume it has to be visible for me and the family to use the wireless connection?

(sorry for the hi-jack)

Aye, just restrict access to your own machines with their MAC address, simples.

Yes, wireless connection via BT Homehub.

Stupid question but how do i log into the router and check for attached devices?

(i'm a complete novice with 'putery stuff)

I might be wrong, but just hiding the SSID AFTER someone has hacked it, won't stop them doing it again. You should change it AND hide it AFAIK. MAC address filtering will help too

If it s WEP encryption, its pretty easy to hijack. If its WPA more difficult, but not impossible. Restricting the machines that can use the router seems to help big time, I have to run WEP due to old machines, but even my amateur hackist friend couldn't get in when she tried with this setup.

Not used BBC iplayer/ C4OD or owt like that. Never downloaded a film or any music so not sure what other explaination there is apart from a hijack of my account.

SSID????

our Orange Live box has a hard switch you have to press to connect a new device which is a pretty good feature in my book

Apparently its a WEP-code thingy (old laptop)

Password changed and system hidden, owt else i need to do?

Apart from find a competent computer user????

it's name.

SSID=the "name" of your router that gets broadcast

you need to use WPA protection, WEP and MAC address filtering are trivial to bypass with the right hardware & software

Anyone have a link on how to set up router with MAC addresses?

Will this be OK with Xbox and I-phone?

Like MD - numpty person here trying to understand ......

I have switched off router late evening when everyone has gone to bed but I still notice the wireless 'flashing' at high speed indicating useage.

Ok. If it is now hidden, how easy is it for the average account hacker to find me given i can find another 3 password-protected accounts from this laptop?

I've got a netgear router and you can monitor traffic going out - might be worth looking at.

The other thing to consider is that your pc has some sort of malware on it and is beign used to route traffic through so no-one has hacked your network at all - it;s your machines generating the traffic (albeit unknown to you).

Yep, hiding the SSID does **** all really. Easy to scan and find the network if remotely competent.

I have switched off router late evening when everyone has gone to bed but I still notice the wireless 'flashing' at high speed indicating useage.

Hmmm.. internet usage at bedtime.. do you have a teenage son?
I suggest turning on any logging your router can do. 😕

LOL - yes I do ......

Will check out and see what the router can do - when I'm at home ...

Cheers,

OK - Update.

Just received another mail from BT telling me my last month's download was 23 GB!!!!!

Password is changed, SSID is changed and hidden. Protected by WPA & WPA2 systems, anything else a complete 'puter numptie can do?

Forget hiding the SSID, it really makes no odds.

Most importantly: Are you using a strong password?
Nice and long. Not a word or name (or a simple corruption of a word or name).

I recommend this password generator:
https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

Password is considered strong by the little green bar at the side of the screen anyway.

Thieving shites next door are costing me money & i'm not happy!

Done a router check & there are no other devices attached but i guess they can be hidden?
Had a chat with BT & going off what i told them about my regular usage there is no way i can be generating that many Gb - my usual usage is around 3.5Gb per month.
I suspect the ****less t**ts next door are running an Xbox or something through my router.

What to do next?

Done a router check & there are no other devices attached but i guess they can be hidden?

Not usually no.

Have you turned on MAC filtering (aka "Access Control")?

Can you not just turn your router off at the mains when you are not online? At least that'll stop people using it anytime they feel like it.

Unless it would be inconvenient for you, how about doing it with a cable instead of wirelessly for a while, so if that makes a difference? We've got a BT Homehub, but just use the cable to connect to the router so I can have it in powersave mode, the wirelessness is turned off.

as per my previous post - are you sure this isn't trraffic you're gnerating due to malware etc?

Switch of the wireless bit and use it wired for a week and see what happens.

Dunno about muddydwarf, but turning the router off would be an utter faff for me. Mine is on permanently.

For me the whole point of wireless internet access is that I no longer think "I'll just go upstairs and surf the web for a while".

It's just something I do casually while watching telly or sitting on the bog, much the same as reading a magazine.

Yes, GrahamS, but you don't have an expensive data limit problem.

The basic method of problem diagnosis is to reduce a system to it's simplest state and then test each part of it in turn.

Using the modem wired for a week or two and keeping an eye on the amount of data going through it will tell you if the data transfer is coming from your own machine or whether someone is hijacking the wireless connection.

From there you can work out how to solve the problem.

I would also add that if you haven't got a quality, up to date, properly configured firewall and anti-virus package then now would very much be the time to get one.

I'm currently being told that i do have a properly configured firewall & anti-virus package!

I'm unplugging the broadband when not using it, considering going to the ethernet cable but it will inconvenience me somewhat, and seeing as i'm paying for the privilege of a wireless system...

Done a check and not found any malware but not sure how good our checking abilities are!

Dunno about muddydwarf, but turning the router off would be an utter faff for me. Mine is on permanently.

For me the whole point of wireless internet access is that I no longer think "I'll just go upstairs and surf the web for a while".

Me too.

My router and modem are plugged into the same power strip at the TV, DVD, Virgin box and it all gets switched off at the wall before we go to bed and then back on again in the morning. Hardly a major faff and saves energy and cash.

Password is considered strong by the little green bar at the side of the screen anyway.

Aye, but how well will it stand up against say [url= http://www.wpacracker.com/ ]a 400 CPU cluster that will run your network capture against a 135 million word dictionary in 20 minutes[/url]?

Use a long secure password!

as long as you're using a proper AV porg and doing a 'full scan' on all devices you sonncet then you shoudl be ok.

no-ones suggesting a permanent change to wired but as a short term measure to see what's going on it shoudl be worth a try.

I'd be escalating at BT as well and see if they can put a packet sniffer on it to see where the traffic is coming from.

Can BT give you a list of top 10 sites for usage or something ?

maybe you can set your router to ban them (assuming thy're not "yours"), or openDNS is supposed to block sites too isn't it (suppose it's a proxy server?)

(can you tell, I dont do computers either)

My router and modem are plugged into the same power strip at the TV, DVD, Virgin box and it all gets switched off at the wall before we go to bed and then back on again in the morning. Hardly a major faff and saves energy and cash.

Fair enough. I'm all for turning stuff off, but the router stays on!
Switching it off would mean no surfing in bed. It probably only draws 10w or so anyway.

If it's flashing wildly and sustainedly when all the household computers are powered off you have someone stealing bandwidth or has found a back door into your router and is trying to get it to cough up a key, simple as that (or you're not aware of your teenage sons porn addiction). Fixed MAC addresses only helps a little - it's easy to spoof a mac address and any decent theif would already know the addresses of the other machines on the system and could easily re-use one for connection purposes when you're not using it.

Fixed MAC addresses only helps a little ...

Agreed, but it's a more effective deterrent than hiding the SSID, which does **** all other than annoy you when you are trying to legitimately connect.

what router do you have muddy dwarf? Have you looked on the setup to see what traffic monitoring stuff it has built in?

even getting a list of copnnected devices woudl tell you whether there was anything up

I second using OpenDNS. It logs every site visited, plus you can block what you want. May be hard to set up if you're not into computers but worth the effect (esp. if you don't have a fixed IP address).

Download something like this as a start and monitor your usage.

http://wareseeker.com/free-internet-usage-counter/

I would also consider the possibility that BT have got it wrong. Trouble is the only way you'll know that is to completely unplug the router for a month. Still an option of last resort.

I'm not sure how much of a faff it really is to switch off your router, GrahamS. Particularly if the OP is currently having issues of people hijacking it.

Do you leave your laptop on all the time? If not, then when you turn it on, take 10secs to turn your router on at the same time. It'll be up & running faster than your laptop is, so not sure how it's a major faff; it's just flicking a switch.

Ah, unless you can't access your router as it's actually in your neighbours house!? 😉

Do you leave your laptop on all the time? If not, then when you turn it on, take 10secs to turn your router on at the same time.

Well yes, our iPhones are on all the time and connected to the wi-fi.

Granted the netbook does take around ten seconds to start, but it's downstairs, next to the couch, as is the Wii, whereas the router is upstairs in the study (so it can be wired to the main desktop and the printer).

Not a major hassle, but running upstairs whenever I want to browse the web would kind of remove the convenience factor.

Also I suspect if you keep turning off the modem then it might screw up the speed negotiation. I'm sitting at a solid 8Mbps and I'd like to stay that way.

Ah, unless you can't access your router as it's actually in your neighbours house!?

My neighbour is in his 80s. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what an internet is.

I can sometimes see the pub's wi-fi from the house, when the wind is blowing the right way, but I'm happy enough to use my own connection.

(Though I have absolutely no qualms about using whatever open wi-fi I find when I'm out and about).

Furry Muff.

I feel somewhat in the dark ages now, what with having a laptop & a desktop rather than an iphone and a netbook that are permanently ready to go.
I can see how having it on all the time would be more convenient in the situation you describe above.

(fair enough, in case you were wondering....)

WPA is pretty easy to crack when you have a non-slim PS3 lying around.

Nothing is sacred.

Details Dougal?

MuddyDwarf - if you are still having problems, it would be good for you to post up the following:

Model of your router
No. and types of devices connected to it
What anti-virus software you are using
What firewall you are using

Knowing these will take some of the guess-work out of helping you.

OK.

Router - BT home hub 2
Devices - one laptop
Anti-virus software - AVG free (can't afford to pay)
Firewall - windows and AVG

I have a total broadband download to monitor the usage from the laptop. Unfortunately we reset-to-default the router yesterday before altering all the passwords so any data stored about any other devices logging on has been deleted.

How do i alter the MAC address?

Also, the BT home hub router doesn't flash when in use so i can't tell whether or not someone is using it.

Currently unplugging the router from the phoneline when not in use, think i'm going to revert back to a hardwire connection for a week or so as well.

Just found this quote about your hub....

By the way, you haven't enabled FON have you? In that case you will get others using your hub legally because you have given them permission by using FON.

Have you enabled FON?

[url= http://www.filesaveas.com/btfon.html ]Info on FON[/url]