Recently I found someone piggybacking my wifi connection, simply for fun I do not secure my wifi network, and now I know how to view attatched devices I can see the MAC Address. Is it possible to find out who this is? Or close to it? I have a program called dontstealmywifi which is good to. Any help greatly appreciated.
2007-03-11 07:48:23 · 4 answers · asked by codenamematt2007 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Computer Networking
Cheers for your ideas guys. I'll secure it thennn! Thanks again.
2007-03-11 08:07:07 · update #1
The MAC address only identifies who built the eithernet/wifi card not who is using it.
If you leave your front door open by not securing your wifi then you are inviting everyone to enter so dont be too surprised when they do.
The good news is that they are within a few hundred feet of you or they wouldnt be able to connect.
If you like being the neighborhood ISP then just keep on letting people connect and keep your firewall and antivirus updated! If not SECURE YOUR WIFI, remember these people who are stealing your service also have access to your computer!
2007-03-11 08:03:27 · answer #1 · answered by Tracy L 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no, most providers do not attach the MAC address of whatever card they've sold to a serial number, in some cases the serial IS the mac address, but then that'd also require that when the user bought it at best buy, that best buy tracks who bought it, and reports that to the manufacturer.
You CAN however look up which vendor makes the card, for example, my mac address of my wireless card is 00:16:cb:07:0a:19
if I look up in the OUI index at the IEEE OUI lookup page, I see that my PC is an apple computer.
00-16-CB (hex)Apple Computer
0016CB (base 16)Apple Computer
1 Infinite Loop MS:35GPO
Cupertino CA 95014
UNITED STATES
That's about as much as you can really get, anything else involves a warrant etc...
you could always do this..
start -> run ->
//ip.add.rre.ss/ of the computer that is leaching your WiFi. After all if the computer is on your net, you can take control of it...(but I'm not a lawyer, and I dont think that's been proven yet).
Get a linux box that pushes a script that formats the remote computer whenever someone who should not be on your wireless is on your wireless. You'll know then b/c you'll hear the "WTF, Oh Shi*T"
2007-03-11 08:05:07 · answer #2 · answered by m34tba11 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
ALWAYS SECURE YOUR WIFI.
You are posting a virtual neon sign that says.....DOOR'S OPEN, COME ON IN, ONE AND ALL.
Although, I love unsecured wifi....too many times I needed to transfer money before leaving for work but forget to do so........I just pull over to the side of the road and go to my bank's website and do the transfer..........I don't condone this, but it is just too convenient and I am usually not connected for more than a few minutes.
If my intentions were more malicious....it is unbelievable how many open wifi's there are........I could literally have a field day with people's personal information if that was my intention.
Can you say Identity Theft!??!
2007-03-11 12:17:35 · answer #3 · answered by Jeffrey F 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The MAC will not do much good unless you can physically get to everyones machine, but if you go into windows network and poke around in there you may see a computer name you can decipher.
2007-03-11 08:01:44 · answer #4 · answered by Gene M 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋