wifi hijacker

[Diver]

Next door neighbour has had his wifi hijacked all afternoon.
My brother came around an hour ago and asked if I had my wifi connected as the driver in the van parked over the road, was on a laptop logged onto the internet.
The van was a left hand drive foreign jobbie, so I checked my firewall and there had been two attempts to hack my connection this afternoon.
The van had been parked there since about 3pm, so I checked with the lad next door and he said his connection had been really slow all afternoon.
I told him to unplug and walked up to the road. The driver had his back to me but I seen him frantically working away at the laptop. He then waved his arms in the air as he said something to somebody in the back, he then turned and seen me, mobile phone to my ear, started the van and screwed off down the road

Lad next door has no firewall because (he said) his subscription is up and he hasn't renewed
Doesn't know if his wifi came with its own firewall as he can't find the disk, and didn't think it was that important
His mother reckons the phone bills have been through the roof lately because he keeps exceeding his download limits

Go figure

[NickFitz]

Next door neighbour has had his wifi hijacked all afternoon.
My brother came around an hour ago and asked if I had my wifi connected as the driver in the van parked over the road, was on a laptop logged onto the internet.
The van was a left hand drive foreign jobbie, so I checked my firewall and there had been two attempts to hack my connection this afternoon.
The van had been parked there since about 3pm, so I checked with the lad next door and he said his connection had been really slow all afternoon.
I told him to unplug and walked up to the road. The driver had his back to me but I seen him frantically working away at the laptop. He then waved his arms in the air as he said something to somebody in the back, he then turned and seen me, mobile phone to my ear, started the van and screwed off down the road

Lad next door has no firewall because (he said) his subscription is up and he hasn't renewed
Doesn't know if his wifi came with its own firewall as he can't find the disk, and didn't think it was that important
His mother reckons the phone bills have been through the roof lately because he keeps exceeding his download limits

Go figure

The firewall on his PC is irrelevant in terms of keeping someone off his wifi.

His router settings (probably on http://192.168.0.1/) should allow him to specify that only certain MAC addresses are allowed to connect via the router. By enabling this, and specifying the MAC address of his wireless card (and of any other wifi-enabled devices he uses), and also setting up a WPA password, he'll be able to keep all but the most determined out. He should probably update the router firmware, if an update is available, while he's in there.

It's worth connecting to the router via its Ethernet port when doing all the above, as otherwise he'll probably get locked out halfway through

[Diver]

The firewall on his PC is irrelevant in terms of keeping someone off his wifi.

His router settings (probably on http://192.168.0.1/) should allow him to specify that only certain MAC addresses are allowed to connect via the router. By enabling this, and specifying the MAC address of his wireless card (and of any other wifi-enabled devices he uses), and also setting up a WPA password, he'll be able to keep all but the most determined out. He should probably update the router firmware, if an update is available, while he's in there.

It's worth connecting to the router via its Ethernet port when doing all the above, as otherwise he'll probably get locked out halfway through

WPA! He was still using WEP on XP, I've told him to download WPA and update now. and to password it.

[DiscoStu]

WPA! He was still using WEP on XP, I've told him to download WPA and update now. and to password it.

Should he notify his ISP? Just been watching the news about suicide bombers, if someone's been using his connection for something unsavoury he could have people knocking on his door early one morning!

[voodooflux]

Should he notify his ISP? Just been watching the news about suicide bombers, if someone's been using his connection for something unsavoury he could have people knocking on his door early one morning!

kicking in

[Diver]

The firewall on his PC is irrelevant in terms of keeping someone off his wifi.


It's worth connecting to the router via its Ethernet port when doing all the above, as otherwise he'll probably get locked out halfway through

Not irrelevant as far as hacking personal data out of his system though.

Just read back through my post. didn't really word it very well sorry (I was incensed)
Told him to plug in with the ethernet cable and offered to lend him one of mine, but he's found his.

[Diver]

Should he notify his ISP? Just been watching the news about suicide bombers, if someone's been using his connection for something unsavoury he could have people knocking on his door early one morning!

I will suggest that he contact his ISP. It's not just Terrorism, it could be child porn downloads or financial hacking through his IP.

[DiscoStu]

I will suggest that he contact his ISP. It's not just Terrorism, it could be child porn downloads or financial hacking through his IP.

Didn't think of that, seriously unpleasant either way...

[DiscoStu]

The firewall on his PC is irrelevant in terms of keeping someone off his wifi.

His router settings (probably on http://192.168.0.1/) should allow him to specify that only certain MAC addresses are allowed to connect via the router. By enabling this, and specifying the MAC address of his wireless card (and of any other wifi-enabled devices he uses), and also setting up a WPA password, he'll be able to keep all but the most determined out. He should probably update the router firmware, if an update is available, while he's in there.

It's worth connecting to the router via its Ethernet port when doing all the above, as otherwise he'll probably get locked out halfway through

Never thought of doing the MAC address thing, I'm off to do it now.

[Diver]

Never thought of doing the MAC address thing, I'm off to do it now.

Check what advanced functions you have available too.

I.e. (my Phillips) The router supports advanced functions like Stateful Packet Inspection, hacker attack detection, content filtering, access control, virtual DMZ hosts, virtual servers and client filtering.