For instance, your neighbor can connect to your WiFi and use your internet for free. Or you may connect to the free WiFi in the cafe or hotel, but someone already hacked the network, and now everyone, including you, is a potential target. Or maybe you are using the office WiFi, and it was also hacked.
- Apr 06, 2020 Beef Up Your Network Security Even if you discover that a neighbor is stealing your Wi-Fi, you don't need to hunt them down and start a fuss—you can just kick them off with a change in router.
- The team and the lone adapter both have a unique MAC address (Physical Address). A MAC address is merely an identifier for wireless routers. One cannot “hack” a router with a MAC address. Unless you have already cracked your neighbor's wireless password, the MAC address of.
Every day we see news about computers being hacked and how the cybercriminals make money off people clueless about the protection of their assets.
For someone not very technical, it may sound as if hackers are so powerful, and the only way to hide is to shut down all devices and go off the grid completely.
However, the truth is that there are several simple things one can do to make sure that we are reasonably safe when browsing the internet without affecting our ability to access the information we need.
Whether or not someone can hack into the computer or phone through WiFi depends on a person’s proximity to the WiFi router. If a cybercriminal in the range of access to the WiFi router, they can connect to the local network and perform various attacks, such as Man In The Middle attack.
If the hacker is outside of the WiFi range, then the way they attack will be different.
Let’s consider various scenarios of how the computer can be hacked and ways to protect your devices.
Hacking Computer Through Local WiFi
As you probably guessed, it is much easier to hack the computer, which is in close proximity to the hacker’s device.
For instance, your neighbor can connect to your WiFi and use your internet for free. Or you may connect to the free WiFi in the cafe or hotel, but someone already hacked the network, and now everyone, including you, is a potential target.
Or maybe you are using the office WiFi, and it was also hacked.
And it doesn’t have to be a computer, such as a Mac or PC. Your smartphone, iPhone, or Android, which uses the WiFi can be hacked as well.
Let’s see what hackers can do if they are physically connected to the WiFi you are using.
Man in the middle attack
If you have the internet at home from a cable, DSL, or fiber-optic provider, you have a router. Your computer does not directly connect to the internet; it sends and receives data by directing it through the router.
In layman terms, the process is the following:
Mar 08, 2013 My Mac's Been Hacked! This is an open-source AV engine that detects both Windows and Mac threats, and can be quickly fired up in times of crisis. Quit Disk Utility and click on the OS re. Aug 22, 2016 In Mac, if you already installed an anti-virus then this the best thing you've done to secure notebook. To find out if your mac address has been hacked. You can easily check it out by scanning your Mac. Usually, Mac users have to scan its system regularly to know if. Image via howtogeek.com. From here, open Windows Logs.Under the Security tab, you'll be able to see everything that's been done on your computer. You can double-click on any event to see details. Any event tagged with the number 4624 is a successful logon. On a Mac, you can check by seeing when your computer was last woken from sleep mode. Somebody installed windows on my mac hacked. Odd Behavior from the system. Applications would be less Stable. Data Transfer (Hard drive, and Network) would be impacted (assuming the hacks were sending data, or encrypting drives, etc) You may see odd screens appearing, or your system would be doing tasks you didn’t ask for. My Mac has currently been hacked. I am finding out he is getting into all my bank accounts and changing the password and even 401k and trading accts. He is also attempting to hack my girlfriends computers as well as we speak. I think he got in through a hole i had with my smart tv, google WiFi, wenmo plugs, google home, Phillips hue lights etc.
- Your computer or phone finds a WiFi router.
- After submitting the correct password, the router sends back its MAC address. MAC address is an identifier of computer components, and in theory, it should be unique across billions of devices on the planet. The network card on your computer also has a unique MAC address.
- After you get the MAC address of the router, all internet activity will be going through the router. In the pic below, there is a MAC address next to each device on the local network, and the router’s address is 11:22:33:44:55:66.
When a hacker connects to the local WiFi router, it also finds the MAC address of the router. The hacker changes his computer’s MAC address to be the same as routers one (11:22:33:44:55:66 in the pic below).
Now, all devices on the local network connect to the hacker’s machine, and then the data flows to and from the router. So the hacker becomes a man in the middle (MITM).
Once this happened, the hacker can read all outgoing requests and incoming data using various tools that collect such data.
This means every time you enter a username and password on some web site or enter your credit card number, and it gets saved on the hacker’s machine. Also, every URL you are visiting also gets saved.
Oct 07, 2016 I heard my husband get up and punch in the code to then disarm it but when I woke up again to use bathroom I walked into the hall and the alarm went off. The police called right away which it’s usually the alarm company. I honestly think my husband used the alarm and camera company he did because he spies on me. Mac is someone hacking into my camera. Mar 22, 2018 Can Someone Hack my Computer Camera? There are many ways criminals can hack into your computer, accessing vital information and even drivers. With that said, here are some of the methods they use to install a RAT in your device: Emails with malware and viruses – Hackers can spread malware by attaching it to emails. The idea of someone hacking your laptop camera, spying on you and then blackmailing you into releasing the footage publicly might sound like a cliche Hollywood plot, but it’s not as impossible as you may think. “Camfecting” is one of the most common hacks. If you suspect that your camera. Hacking my IP camera. You can possibly find the MAC address of the IP camera if you know the device’s brand since the first 6-digits of a MAC address identify the manufacturer. And that his IP camera would alert him as soon as someone tried to invade into his house. Use the built-in camera on Mac. Many Mac computers and displays have a built-in iSight, FaceTime, or FaceTime HD camera located near the top edge of the screen. The camera automatically turns on when you open an app that can take pictures, record videos, or make video calls. You can decide which apps are allowed to use the camera on your Mac.
There are some limitations, obviously. For instance, if the website uses the HTTPS protocol (S at the end stands for Secure), all traffic is encrypted between your computer and cybercriminals will not be able to crack it (in most cases).
Can Neighbors Hack My Wifi
However, if the web site uses HTTP, all data, including the password, is in cleartext.
So, if you want to avoid your data being stolen, always check that web site is using a secure protocol (HTTPS). In the browsers, the secure protocol is usually displayed with a padlock icon next to the URL.
Never enter passwords or financial information on web sites with HTTP!
How the router can be hacked
When it comes to your home WiFi, there are three ways for someone outside to connect to the router:
- The router is not password protected
- You tell the password. For instance, you told the guest the password, or she looked it up on the router (if you didn’t change the default one)
- If the router is using an old authentication protocol
I am going to skip the first two and instead of focus on the last one. The authentication protocol used in with WiFi router is very important.
How To Use Neighbors Wifi
If your router is old, it is possible that it’s still using WEP protocol, then you should know that anyone who knows a little bit about hacking can hack the router literally in less than a minute.
So, if you have it enabled on your router, then go ahead and disable as I did.
What you should have is WPA2 with AES encryption. In the pic below, the authentication strength (protection from hacking) increases from top to bottom (WPA is less secure, and WPA2-PSK with AES is the most secure).
Some hackers employ a dictionary attack to crack WPA protocol, but it takes supercomputers to hack it. So as long as you are not a celebrity or a billionaire, nobody will spend so many resources to break into your network.
Usually, you can connect to the home router settings by going to the local IP address, such as http://192.168.0.1/.
How to tell if someone hacked your router
One of the sure routers hacked signs is the existence of an unknown device connected to the local WiFi network.
As I explained above, in order to perform a man in the middle (MITM) attack, the hacker must connect to the WiFI network first. And if he’s connected, you can see him too.
One way to find out the connected devices is through the router settings. Some routers allow us to see all connected devices and kick them out if needed.
Another way is to use a network scanner app. For instance, I found a cool app called Fing. The app is available for almost all platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows.
It is free (with ads) and doesn’t even require creating an account in order to use it.
One cool feature they have is scanning for open ports.
For instance, when I scanned my MacBook Pro, I found that remote desktop and screen sharing features were enabled, and anyone could connect to my Mac remotely.
How to protect from a MITM attack
While it is possible to scan and find unknown devices on the home network, this approach will not work with public WiFi networks, such as the one in Starbucks or the hotel.
You would never know if the public network was compromised. In this case, the only way to protect your privacy is to use a VPN (a virtual private network).
When connected to VPN, your computer or phone creates a secure encrypted channel with the VPN server. After the connection is established, all requests go to the VPN server. The server makes all requests on your behalf and returns the results back to you.
From outside, it looks like the computer is sending some garbage to and back to the same computer. Even if the hacker collecting the information, he won’t be able to tell whether you’re connecting to Google.com or MacMyths.com.
When choosing a VPN software, follow these best practices:
- Do not use a free VPN. They have significant limitations, and you know that good things are never free.
- Test for speed. Some VPS are significantly faster than others.
- Check the provider’s reputation. Since all requests now go through the VPN, technically, the VPN server becomes a man in the middle. So choose only reputable providers.
Personally, I am using NordVPN: it’s the fastest on the market and very inexpensive. Hack wpa mac os x 10 11 download free. It is available for multiple platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.
If you use my NordVPN affiliate link you get a pretty steep discount for three-year plan for up to 6 devices.
Hacking Computer Remotely
We discussed ways to hack the computers and phones through local WiFi, but I know the question that most people ask is whether hackers can connect to the home network when they are on the other end of the world (or more than a hundred yards or meters away).
Fortunately, the answer is no, someone cannot get into your home network, even if they know the password if they are outside of the range (more than 300 feet).
Also, in most cases, hackers cannot get into your computer is off (link).
However, there are other ways to get into your system remotely. Do you remember a story of Bezos’s personal data being leaked?
In his case, he received a message on WhatsApp with malware attachment. When the malware was installed on his phone, it started sending the personal data to the server abroad.
Similarly, we are all at the risk of having malware installed on our computers and smartphones. Some malware open access to the device, so the hackers can access it remotely.
Or, the malware could be a keylogger, and in this case, even having HTTPS or a VPN will not help. A keylogger will record the keys pressed on the keyboard, and if it happens to be a credit card number, then the hacker will have it.
So, how to protect the devices from malware? You need to install an antivirus program. Minecraft hacks 1.11 mac.
There is a common myth that Macs cannot have viruses, but this is not true. I was able to inject my Mac with more than 100 malware samples when testing various antimalware solution.
You can check the results of my test and recommended antiviruses in my post: Best Malware Detection App for Mac.
Every time my friends and family ask me for a recommended antivirus, I go with Norton 360. It comes with the biggest bang for the buck and provides antimalware and other security features on all platforms. And it also has its own VPN!
Conclusion
We reviewed multiple ways how someone can hack into your phone or computer through WiFi. I also listed ways to prevent this from happening, which I wanted to reiterate.
If you worry about online security, consider investing in the following tools:
- VPN software
- Antivirus program
Be very cautious when connecting to public WiFi. I’d say if you don’t have VPN installed on a laptop or smartphone don’t use public WiFi, or at least avoid making purchases with a credit card or entering passwords.
If you are interested in the topic of security, there is a great course available on Udemy about ethical hacking. The instructor teaches how to hack computers ethically and most importantly what can you do to prevent from being targeted:
Learn Network Hacking From Scratch (WiFi & Wired)Also, check my other post:
Photo credit: ©canva.com/cyano66
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Most people now use a wi-fi network to access the internet around the home. However an unsecured network could let your neighbor’s piggyback on your broadband or worse, let hackers snoop on your activities. Luckily it’s not that difficult to harden the security of your home network. Here’s a quick step-by-step. 1 Check the router
Most people now use a wi-fi network to access the internet around the home. However an unsecured network could let your neighbor’s piggyback on your broadband or worse, let hackers snoop on your activities. Luckily it’s not that difficult to harden the security of your home network. Here’s a quick step-by-step.
1 Check the router settings
The first thing to do is open a web browser to gain access to the inner workings of your router. Every router will have its own IP address (a series of numbers like 192.168.1.1) which will take you to the router management program. The manual for the router or your broadband provider should be able to supply the right address Simply type the relevant number (with the dots) into the address field of your browser to open the router settings.
2 Set an admin user name and password
You should now see the router settings in the browser window. If it does not ask you for a user name and password this means you have never been here before. Now is the time to set these up to prevent unauthorized access to your router settings. You should find this under the heading of “user management” or similar. If the name of your network and password are still the factory defaults now is the time to change them as would-be hackers can easily look up default settings of most routers just using Google.
3 Make you router invisible by changing and hiding the SSID
The SSID (Service Center Identifier) is just a fancy technical term for the name of your own wireless network. It is what appears in the list of available networks that devices display when people are looking to join a network. By going into the SSID setting you can make your network “invisible” to anyone outside your network by disabling the “SSID broadcasting” function. Users will have to know and enter the Network Name manually if they want to connect to your wireless network. You should also rename your network from the factory default (Verizon, AT&T or similar) to something so that only authorized users will know. Don’t use your name, address or anything else that would be obvious.
4 Enable Network Encryption
You’ve made your network invisible to the outside world but you now need to scramble all the data going in and out of it to further deter hackers and snoopers. This is known as encryption and your router will have settings to allow you to do this. You will see the options for the following settings: WEP, WPA & WPA2. WEP is the least secure and WPA2 is the most advanced, unless you have older devices that require WEP, go WPA2 for as it is much harder to crack. You now need to set a password to enter your newly encrypted Wi-Fi network. Choose something long, with a mix of characters that cannot easily be guessed by a hacker.
5 Add MAC addresses
These are nothing to do with Apple computers but instead the unique code hard coded into any network device. To further secure your network you can add the MAC addresses of all authorized devices in the home – iPhones, tablets, laptops etc. – to the router’s authorized list. No other device will then be allowed on the network. You can find the MAC addresses of mobile phones and other portable devices under their network settings, though this will vary for each device. Check with the manufacturer.
Having done all this, your Wi-Fi network should now considerably more secure than it was before. If you get stuck, contact your broadband provider directly as they should be able to provide assistance.