I asked this in another question, but got no responses. I have a friend who downloads music through his neighbors non-secured wireless connection. I've told him that there must be a way it could be brought back to him, but he always hammers me for details that I don't have. So, if you use a non-secure wireless connection to download, how can you be found out?
2006-12-11 03:31:31 · 3 answers · asked by masodent 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
So what's the memory of entries (connections to the router) like on a basic consumer wireless router?
2006-12-11 04:38:26 · update #1
A connection goes two ways. Here's a point: what is he connecting to? Another computer. What is that computer connecting to? Back to him. All one needs to do is look up the connection logs and see the intruder...
2006-12-11 03:34:45 · answer #1 · answered by csanon 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
On the router's setup screen, there will be a place where it lists the IP and MAC addresses of all the devices connected to the router. And what's more, the neighbours will have a record of every time your friend connected, for how long, and what he was doing. It is very simple to find out if someone is connecting to your network, and if your friend is slowing their internet down to the point where they begin to notice, he will get caught. And quite frankly, I hope he does.
If I found out someone was leeching bandwidth from my network, the police would be the least of their worries....
2006-12-11 03:52:05 · answer #2 · answered by Máirtín 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When your computer hooks to a network, it is assigned an IP address by that network. That IP address, along with other information like your computer's name and physical address are entered into a table on the network's router. The administrator of the network has only to look at the table to know that your friend is on their network.
Hooking into someone else network is currently a felony in the USA. You can be charged with hacking into that persons network. (Does not matter that it is unsecured. If you leave your front door unlocked and someone enters the house it is still trespassing). They could also be sued by the neighbor's ISP for "theft of services". Add to that your friend has hackied into someone elses network to do something ILLEGAL by downloading music. The friend could find himself facing several years in prison, a fine of 100's of thousands of dollars, and a criminal record that will follow him for the rest of his life.
And it will take the person he is hacking about two minutes to know he is there. All they have to do is look at the DHCP log.
2006-12-11 03:42:50 · answer #3 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋