What's on your mind today?

[hermes2015]

I see. I also found this site:

Find who is stealing your Wi-Fi and what you can do to block them

Perhaps it will be of some use.

[Asmodean]

At a glance, they have good enough info. they just misrepresent the "who" bit.

Yes, if I connect my device to your network, your network will be able to identify my device by the information it broadcasts. You will not, however, have any evidence as to me being on the other end of the bandwidth theft.

If you think that someone is stealing your Internet, do the following;

0. (Prophylactically speaking) Never, ever, ever give your network login information to anybody unless you want them to access your network. By "want," I mean precisely that; you proactively want them on your network. Do not give your keys to your service provider, technicians, banks, government agencies, neighbours, scammers or people pretending to be any of the above for any reason beyond the one I mentioned here. You do not ever have to share such information, unless you had a face to face meeting with a judge in a court room about the matter.

1. Change your router's admin password. Choose a password that makes no dictionary sense, but makes some sense to you. For example, in stead of AsmoTheGreat, try @sm0Th3gR8! (EDIT: Do NOT use that one. It's on a public forum you probably frequent if you read this. Thus, it is tainted.)

2. Change your Wi-Fi key. Use the same sort of key pattern as above (NOT the same key) - it can make sense to you, but it should appear random to anything or anyone else.

(3.) Create a dedicated guest network if you sometimes allow wi-Fi access to visitors or others outside your household. Create a separate password for that. Switch off the guest network when not in use.

(4.) Set up MAC filtering. You can easily find out the unique IDs your own devices use on the network. "Whitelist" those - blacklist all others.

If you want to do any/all of that on your network, I can offer some more expanded/targeted advice, although I insist that you never, ever, ever give me your login credentials either.

EDIT: Public service announcement below;

These days, scammers be a-scammin' absolutely fucking everywhere. For that reason, I find myself compelled to re-state something I say often, and have probably said here before.

Never, ever, ever give your login information for any service with a unique user account to any one. If your aged grandmother needs access, create a shared account if possible - get her her own if not.

When someone asks you for your username and (especially) password, the answer is "no." Be they "Microsoft," "your bank" or "the FBI." No. When someone asks you for information they should have available, the answer is "no." When someone asks you to verify information, they have to provide the information to be verified, and you should not tell them anything beyond "correct" or "incorrect." (Never, ever, ever expand on your answer and never, ever, ever verify your password. "And I can see that your password is ___" - "No." - hang up and change password if they were correct. Never use that password again - anywhere) When something prompts you to log in where you do not expect it - don't. If you have logged in somewhere with an unexpected result (Nothing at all happened, or you just got a message saying "thank you," or got redirected to Google or some such) change your password. No, not tomorrow. Now.

Enable two-factor authentication wherever it is supported.

To be extra secure, if you are receiving remote help and your assistant asks you to log onto something, disconnect the remote assistance session, log on, then reconnect.

If you are at all unsure that you are doing what you are supposed to - stop. Contact whatever service it is directly. Ask them. (For instance, if "your bank" is acting fishy, call their central number or drive over to your local office and ask)

[hermes2015]

Thank you so much for those guidelines, Asmo. I am reasonably computer and software literate, but know very well that the learning process is never-ending.

[Asmodean]

Sure, and I was not talking to any-one here specifically. Scammers get better at their trade, and it is very easy to find yourself scammed. There are things to do before and during the scam to make it harder for them, and there are things to do after. Probably the worst thing to do though, is to think oneself immune.

Even I have to go back to my lists of dos and don'ts on occasion - and I work with this stuff more than is healthy.

[Tom62]

I found out that the IP-Address in the lawyer's mail is wrong. The geolocation of their IP-Address wasn't in Bad Schwalbach but in somewhere in Wiesbaden-Biebriech,  which is more than 20km away. That makes it rather unlikely that their claim is legit or that my Wifi got hacked. My wife will handle the legal "paperwork", because the internet connection is on her name. Nevertheless I'll follow Asmo's guidelines as well.

[billy rubin]

they probably send that same letter to a dozen people every day. i would just ignore them.

you might consider contacting the police about this. they might be interested in yiur "lawyers.'

[Asmodean]

I found out that the IP-Address in the lawyer's mail is wrong. The geolocation of their IP-Address wasn't in Bad Schwalbach but in somewhere in Wiesbaden-Biebriech,  which is more than 20km away. That makes it rather unlikely that their claim is legit or that my Wifi got hacked. My wife will handle the legal "paperwork", because the internet connection is on her name. Nevertheless I'll follow Asmo's guidelines as well.

If they are some sort of corporate their IP may point to their network service partner or main office. For instance, my current IP will not point to my actual location, but to a hub on the opposite side of the county.

That said, even a copyright troll whose IP points directly down their butt crack is no more legitimate for that. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them these days.

[Tank]

Getting a new fence around my garden at the end of August. Oh the excitement!

And probably a new kitchen and bathroom.

[billy rubin]

my boss came by with a skudsteer and we remodelled the bathroom the other day. still need to enclose the sides

[Tank]

my boss came by with a skudsteer and we remodelled the bathroom the other day. still need to enclose the sides

What is a skudsteer?

[billy rubin]

sorry these things

skidsteer

[billy rubin]

dammit

really useful because you can hook all kinds of different attachments to the front

[Tank]

Got it. I'd never heard the term before.

[Tom62]

they probably send that same letter to a dozen people every day. i would just ignore them.

you might consider contacting the police about this. they might be interested in yiur "lawyers.'

I've got still much to learn about IP addresses, Internet security etc. My assumption that the geographical location is fixed was dead wrong. The internet provider assigns these IP addresses dynamically. That means that the geographical location changes over time.

[billy rubin]

Got it. I'd never heard the term before.

the wheels dont steer. you turn the vehicle like a . . . tank, by rotating the wheels on different sidwz opposite each other, and skidding the vehicle to the new heading.