Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
- Plusnet Community
- :
- Forum
- :
- Help with my Plusnet services
- :
- Broadband
- :
- Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto...
Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 4:55 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I know I am stupid -so I don't need a lecture.
We have a router and all the kids are lan connected but as we often use laptops infront of the TV we also have wifi enabled.
Today I connected to t'internet using a wifi connection (I don't usually use one) and discovered (I think!) that a network called "Macbook" had piggybacked onto our network.
As soon as I enabled/used a wep key the network disappeared.
Looking into the router the WAN has received 397508818 bytes which seems a lot as the wifi was only used for 10-20 mins this month. Am I right?
Unusually we have used up nearly all of our download limit so -
q.2 is it possible to buy a few extra GB for this month only? We are on Plusnet premier option 2
Thanks for looking
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 5:08 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Second - you should use WPA encryption which is much safer
Third - on Premier as far as I remember you can't buy extra usage unlike BBYW. However, if you ask nicely, a rep may bounce you up to Premier Option 3 for a month.
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 5:47 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I will try the WPA again. Any tips?
I will also ask about the different broadband available as we pay about £29.99 with a discount so actually pay £24.99. (Still great value for our lot)!
As we only have a few close neighbours I will find out eventually which one uses a mac
Our usage Peak off peak Total
25 Feb - 24 Mar 9.28GB 9.07GB 18.35GB
25 Mar - 24 Apr 7.11GB 8.89GB 16GB
25 Apr - 24 May 25.36GB 34.19GB 59.55GB
25th May to date is about 25GB again!
I reset the router because I could not get into it with my password! Heyho!
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 6:01 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I say should because when I used the Speedtouch 121g USB adapter I could only get it to work if I allowed registration automatically and broadcast the network name.
Currently using various wireless cards (PCI and built in) with XP and it all seems to work with WPA, Allow registration automatically and broadcast network name.
I haven't added a wireless card to Vista 64 bit yet (the USB one won't work as they won't issue new drivers).
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 7:36 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
The person doing this managed to break the WEP in about 8 hours! It was a simple one but I am still shocked that someone is so determined! (There are only a couple of houses close to us).
Thank you for your help...BTW Customer support won't let me buy more GB so I will have to be very careful for the rest of the month!
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 9:24 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I've added a comment to your ticket.
Shout if you need me
PS. A quick reboot of your router will be required
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 9:44 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I would also change your router password if you haven't already done it.
The other option is to go round to your neighbours and threaten to report it to the police - it may put the frighteners on as I assume it isn't an adult doing it.
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 9:50 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
16-06-2008 11:14 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I now have a WPA not WPA2 encrypted network- I really need educating here! I will read up tomorrow on which I should have.
The neighbours - a bit tricky....there aren't any teenagers! Teenagers I can cope with and would have talked to.
After some thought (I am very slow) obviously the "macbook" which, when I viewed (before I did the encrytion thingy) was being used to connect other PC's to the network obviously isn't a nearby router. They are all called things like Dlink, BT_home_hub, Wannadoo, and a default apple laptop might be called "macbook!" doh!
Yes I was a bit daft. However, in my defense we are really rural here. There are only two houses it could possibly be, one lady is in her 80's, so that leaves one new neighbour....
Thanks AGAIN guys!
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
17-06-2008 12:07 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Of course it also necessary that the router supports WPA2.
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
17-06-2008 8:39 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
It's best not to broadcast the name of your network either; then there's no temptation to try and access it. Our router doesn't show on the list of available networks unless the computer is connected to it.
Just a thought. There haven't been any cars parked nearby from which someone could be connecting to your network, have there? It's not unknown for people to cruise around till they find an open or easy to crack wireless connection.
Full Fibre since September 2023
Mac OS14 and Firefox user with latest versions of both
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
17-06-2008 10:12 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I have also noticed a radio ham type mast on a house about 100 yds away. Would this be able to pick up router WIFI?
The WPA has not been broken into, so everything seems calm here at the moment.
I will look into WPA2, the router is a Dlink DSL-2740B I will change the password again though! It really is too obvious.
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
17-06-2008 7:18 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
17-06-2008 7:27 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
You could also try whitelisting the MAC addresses of the PCs on your network - one more hurdle for a hacker to jump over. There's usually an option somewhere under wireless security to enable MAC address whitelisting.
Edit: Its under Advanced>WLAN Filter on your router. You need to set the restrict mode to "Allow" to only allow those PCs in your list.
If your router doesn't list the MAC addresses of connected devices automatically, you can get the MAC address by opening a command prompt and typing ipconfig /all. You need to note the number against "Pysical Address" for your wireless adapter.
Re: Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto my network
17-06-2008 8:11 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Quote from: Paul03 You could also try whitelisting the MAC addresses of the PCs on your network - one more hurdle for a hacker to jump over
I wouldn't bother TBH if you have WPA/WPA2 enabled. MAC Addresses are trivial to spoof, and if someone can find the key, they will to be able to find a MAC address on your network.
A Strong key is also a must. I use this: https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm (63 random printable ASCII characters) and put it on a key drive.
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
- Plusnet Community
- :
- Forum
- :
- Help with my Plusnet services
- :
- Broadband
- :
- Bit of Bother - "macbook" network piggybacked onto...