Wireless networks are convenient, versatile, and allow us to enjoy high-speed internet connections regardless of the conditions. We're especially careful with Wi-Fi networks at home , since we have dozens of devices connected.
It's important to maintain the security standards of your Wi-Fi network so you can fully enjoy the service you're paying for. We'll show you how to find out if someone is stealing your Wi-Fi at home and how to prevent it. With these simple tricks, your Wi-Fi network will be the most secure in the neighborhood.
Tools to discover if your WiFi is being stolen in Windows
One of the easiest and quickest ways to find out if someone is stealing your home internet is to install network monitoring tools. We'll use a PC or Mac to easily discover how someone is accessing our network. Ideally, we should opt for open-source or free software.
These free programs are all over the internet, but this time we're focusing on Wireless Network Watcher, a program from NirSoft that works like a charm and you can download it instantly via this link.
But this is not the only one, we leave you a list with a few programs that are also very interesting, and this is the first thing you should do before getting down to work:
Well, we now have plenty of alternatives, so there are no excuses. It's time to analyze our network and find out if anyone is indeed connected to it without our consent, and then take the measures we'll discuss later to prevent these security breaches.
How to find out who is stealing my WiFi
Once we have downloaded the aforementioned program, we simply open the .EXE file; that is, we are dealing with an executable that will use few resources and we will not have to install it on our PC to use it—it couldn't be easier.
The application will automatically analyze our local network and show us a list of devices connected to our Wi-Fi network. We'll see much more information that will help us identify the suspected thief, such as:
- IP adress
- Device name if assigned
- MAC address
- Network adapter or device manufacturer
Furthermore, if we have the tool open, we can select any of the devices to add text on the right side that allows us to identify it more quickly and thus manage the connected devices without problems.
To find out if someone is stealing our Wi-Fi, we simply need to use logic. We'll look at the list and identify all the devices to make sure they're ours. For example, if we see an Apple product connected and we don't own one, we know someone is stealing our Wi-Fi.
Tools to know if Wi-Fi is being stolen on Mac
When you have Apple devices you find that a good handful of these tools are not compatible, but do not suffer, in Technology Guides we always have alternatives for you.
We can quickly take advantage of the LanScan application , completely free and available on the Mac App Store ( LINK ) to monitor our WiFi network and thus quickly detect if they are using our WiFi network without our consent, it couldn't be easier, so if you have a macOS device you should download it right now.
To use this tool, we will apply the same logic as with the one mentioned above for Windows; simply, once we have installed it on our Mac, it will show us a list of devices with a good amount of information that will help us identify the thief:
- IP adress
- MAC address
- Product manufacturer
- Host
As we have said before, what we are going to do is look closely at the list of devices that we have connected to our WiFi network and thus select the one that is not our property.
Applications to know if WiFi is being stolen from your smartphone
We are now extremely used to using our smartphones for almost everything; the truth is that we can't be blamed for it, since these devices are increasingly capable of performing all kinds of tasks and computers are being relegated to a secondary role.
As expected, our smartphone will be at our service for even these capabilities. In this case, we'll opt for a tool that's compatible with both Android and iOS, and we're talking about Fing, a free app (with in-app purchases).
In this case, we'll do exactly the same as in the cases described for macOS and Windows. We'll simply install the application and perform a quick scan, which will provide us with all this information:
- Device Name
- IP adress
- Product manufacturer
- MAC address
Once we have this data in our hands, information is power, so we will quickly detect which user is stealing our WiFi; it's time to get to work and prevent it in the best way.
The best tricks to prevent your WiFi from being stolen
Prevention is undoubtedly the best way to stop others from taking advantage of our WiFi network; however, the tricks we're about to talk about are valid both before your WiFi is stolen and once an intruder has been detected.
Change the name and password of your WiFi network
Telemarketer routers generally include names and passwords that are often leaked through their databases. This means that in many cases, simply by doing a quick search on the internet, they obtain the security key that belongs to our specific network.
Therefore, the best course of action is to change the WiFi network name and, of course, the assigned password. To do this, you will need to access the router's configuration menu by entering the following addresses in your web browser and logging into the router using the password found on the sticker on its base.
- Most common address: 192.168.0.1
- Alternative address: 192.168.1.1
Once inside, we are going to look in the WiFi settings of our operator for the name of the network, commonly known as SSID and we are going to change it to one of our liking and win.
Now it's time to change the password. It's important that we always choose the WPA2-PSK option; it's the most secure, and the harder we make it for the "thief," the better. That's why I recommend using password generators, like the one here.
Use MAC filtering
Most routers offer MAC address filtering. As you saw earlier, each device is assigned a MAC address, which is like its unique identification number. Using your router's MAC address filtering tool will give you an extra layer of security.
We simply need to tell the router which MAC addresses are recognized as "safe," so that no user, even if they have the password, will be able to connect if their MAC address is not on the whitelist.
This security mechanism has a rather large problem, which is that we have more and more devices at home, from light bulbs to smart vacuum cleaners, and it is a real nuisance to have to perform this MAC filtering management every time we want to add a new device, not to mention that in reality experts can easily break this system.
Disable WPS
Many routers have a very interesting button called WPS that allows us to connect to a WiFi network in some cases by entering a small PIN and in other cases directly without introducing any security mechanism. The Wifi Protected Setup is temporary, that is, if we press the button, the router will "open" for a moment, but once the device is connected. it will close again.
WPS can be exploited by users with the necessary knowledge to bypass the device. Therefore, it's recommended that you access your router's settings and disable this feature. WPS has proven to be one of the main security flaws in most of these systems, which is why more and more routers are doing away with this technology. On the other hand, it can't be said that it's widely used by users; in fact, most consumers don't even know what the "WPS" button on their router is for.
You already have everything you need to find out who is stealing your WiFi and put measures to avoid it, we hope we have helped you.