Forum Discussion

myredracer's avatar
myredracer
Explorer II
Jun 17, 2015

wifi at home and hacking?

Have been having issues with the networked PCs in our house recently. Started to get a message on one that said someone has been downloading The Simpsons and the latest (not released yet) Spongebob movie from bittorrent. Definitely wasn't one of us. We recently had the phone company install a wifi extender at one end of the house because the signal was weak.

Has a neighbor hacked into our wifi network? We are in the country and most neighbors are at least 200' away. There is a rental mobile home on one side with some "difficult" tenants and the extender was installed in a part of the house closest to them. Can't imagine anyone else in the area doing this.

We just had the computers checked over will all new passwords. Is there anything that can be done to prevent this in the future? I ran cat 5E cable throughout the house and could change all computers to run hardwired instead. We did wifi in the beginning simply because it was easier and faster. The phone company isn't interested in doing anything. If someone is downloading illegal stuff, isn't someone you can report it to?

Can this happen in a CG if you set up your own local hotspot? I have no idea what's involved in hacking into someone's wifi.
  • Vulcan_Rider's avatar
    Vulcan_Rider
    Explorer
    Jun 17, 2015
    DavidP wrote:
    If you're worried you have been hacked, reset the router and change the passcode.


    This.

    I find it a bit strange to post the original question and make no mention of having security ON and a password set......on the router, that is.
  • Campfire_Time's avatar
    Campfire_Time
    Explorer
    Jun 17, 2015
    Where did the message come from?

    What protocol is the WiFi using? I hope it's WPA. And is the passcode something someone can guess or is it at least something sort of hard to guess? I hope the extender is also WPA protected.
  • DavidP's avatar
    DavidP
    Explorer
    Jun 17, 2015
    If you're worried you have been hacked, reset the router and change the passcode.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Jun 17, 2015
    myredracer wrote:
    Can this happen in a CG if you set up your own local hotspot? I have no idea what's involved in hacking into someone's wifi.
    Some folks on here will tell you it's easy, given the right equipment and skills. Playing classical piano is 'easy' too if you work hard at it.

    It's possible, but highly unlikely anyone is going to campgrounds to hack RVers. And, your post is the first I've ever read on here of anyone actually being hacked.

    You're sure your network was password-protected when this happened?
  • joebedford's avatar
    joebedford
    Nomad II
    Jun 17, 2015
    Sure wifi can be hacked but it's highly unlikely unless you don't have any security on your hotspot(s). Make sure it's set for WPA2-PSK and you'll probably be OK.

    Of course if someone has used lax security to install trojans on your PCs, you'll have to deal with that too.

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