Crazy neighbor is hacking my GFs network!

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No offense, but assuming he did it is probably just that, an assuption.

While he might be suspicious, anyone could be doing it. I know for a fact that my custom antenna let me get on unsecurred wifi points that are a football field or more away. Plus, you don't need to be some unemployeed engineer to have the skills to pull this off, it's really nothing that fancy. If they were any good, no one would have noticed they were being watched or stolen from.

As for messing with the computers, yeah, maybe someone did it, but I don't think this should be taken to the police. Not that it isn't a crime, it's just that getting a suspect, let alone a conviction might be nearly impossible. You're asking comcast for the IP logs, but if that person has access to your WiFi, do you really think they needed to come through the figurative front door? Of course not, the house had it's walls removed! Only logs that would help would be the routers MAC address logs, but those can be spoofed even if they are logged at all in the first place.

I'd take it as a hard lesson as to why you don't want an unsecured access point on the same LAN as your own machines.

And if you want access to the passworded accounts, use something like KonBoot, but I think that has already been brought up.
 
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As others have said, the bottom line is that you have no idea whatsoever who may have been doing this, and you are unlikely to ever know.

The solution is to secure your network and secure her computer and take this as a lesson learned. Good luck with any investigation and prosecution, though it probably won't go anywhere.
 
AppaYipYip said:
So I know her WiFi has been unsecured for some time, so that part I know.
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This part troubles me the most. If you knew about it, why wouldn't you take the two seconds it takes to secure the "network" and save yourself and your girlfriend and her family the hastle?

Also, Homeland Security? Really? Does his name start with Abdul? No offense, but I don't think HS would waste their time with something so trivial.

Always, always always, change default usernames and passwords and secure your network with some sort of encryption. Sure WPA2 is best, but use at the very minimum WEP. You never know when you could have a lazy "hacker" not want to take the two minutes it takes to break WEP.

Like I mentioned before. If he didn't come from an outside IP address you have very little or no chance to know it was even him. Even if he did come from an outside IP address, there are so many ways to mask your IP.

xphil isn't trying to be mean. He's being real and valid. Cut your loses, secure your network... always cover your camera. :eek:

I'd like to hear the outcome of this too. Newspaper article if you have one.
 
AppaYipYip said:
Well hello there good sir! Believe me, I've been on these forums for a looong time and I know the interweb "tough guys" tend to pop up every now and then. I had a good laugh at your post xphil3. :D

I do understand some "basic" networking principals but came on here for advice from the experts, some of the guys on here are amazingly talented and knowledgable about networking so I wanted to post and LEARN from the Networking Guru's on here.

If you put yourself in my GFs family situation for one second, you would quickly understand it is not a WASTE of your precious tax dollars. :rolleyes: I am not posting ALL of the information under investigation, just trying to gather a better understanding of HOW this individual could have done what he did. So please, spare me the "tax dollar" speech.

The local FBI office has my GF's laptop, her Moms desktop (it was a Slimline HP), their router and their cable modem. Comcast has handed over the IP information also, so we will wait to hear from them this week. Also, Homeland Security is working with the local FBI Field Office and the local police department.
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Honestly, knowing xphil3 personally, and knowing what he does for a living, there's hardly anyone on these forums much more qualified to tell you like it is when it comes to networking security.

Trust me, he may not be as "nice" in his replies as someone like me (and I'm far from an expert), but he's definitely qualified to give you a professional opinion, as unsavory as it may be.

EDIT - and I'm going to add my voice to the chorus here... Homeland Security?!
 
I'd bet the mom had some other type of sensitive data that was stolen. I'm thinking along the lines of her employers HR data or customer data. Or maybe she works for the government. Otherwise I doubt HS or the FBI would be involved. The OP seemed to allude to it being more then photos stolen.
 
AppaYipYip said:
Well hello there good sir! Believe me, I've been on these forums for a looong time and I know the interweb "tough guys" tend to pop up every now and then. I had a good laugh at your post xphil3. :D
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I want to agree with the above poster saying that this was totally out of line. Phil is absolutely spot on in his assessment.

You appear to have come on a forum with a limited knowledge about networking and computer forensics asking for help and advice and proceed to blast one of the clearly more knowledgeable and experienced members who replied.

Either swallow your pride and listen to the people vastly more experienced and skilled than you or don't ask in the first place.
 
avey said:
I'd bet the mom had some other type of sensitive data that was stolen. I'm thinking along the lines of her employers HR data or customer data. Or maybe she works for the government. Otherwise I doubt HS or the FBI would be involved. The OP seemed to allude to it being more then photos stolen.
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Doubt it. My mom works for an insurance company, and her laptops and BBs are all managed by the companies security department. Tons of encryption and only works on a secured VPN. Multiple passwords, key-chain code authenticator, and thumb print reader. WiFi disabled, ethernet or Verizon AirCard with IPSec VPN only.

If something then happens (which I don't think they have even had happen since they updated the laptops), then FBI gets involved. ...But if you really had sensitive data, I'd assume you've got something similar anyways, not some desktop at home on an unsecured network, as I doubt anything the FBI is interested in is that easily stolen in the first place.
 
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avey said:
Or maybe she works for the government. Otherwise I doubt HS or the FBI would be involved. The OP seemed to allude to it being more then photos stolen.
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If any government files classified with anything more than FOUO appeared on her laptop, which was then connected to her personal WiFi network she would be in cuffs and clearance stripped before she knew it. I was thinking exactly this avey, then put myself into that situation and remember'd all the training I had to take and quickly diminished this as a possibility. :p

BTW guys, its xphile ..... not Phil. If you must, my name is Marc ;)
 
Brak710 said:
Doubt it. My mom works for an insurance company, and her laptops and BBs are all managed by the companies security department. Tons of encryption and only works on a secured VPN. Multiple passwords, key-chain code authenticator, and thumb print reader. WiFi disabled, ethernet or Verizon AirCard with IPSec VPN only.

If something then happens (which I don't think they have even had happen since they updated the laptops), then FBI gets involved. ...But if you really had sensitive data, I'd assume you've got something similar anyways, not some desktop at home on an unsecured network, as I doubt anything the FBI is interested in is that easily stolen in the first place.
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Not all businesses are so up on IT security. I've seen some insanely stupid security mistakes made by companies. But even with all the security in the world all it takes is a dimwit user to copy sensitive data to a thumb drive to work on from home.
 
xphil3 said:
If any government files classified with anything more than FOUO appeared on her laptop, which was then connected to her personal WiFi network she would be in cuffs and clearance stripped before she knew it. I was thinking exactly this avey, then put myself into that situation and remember'd all the training I had to take and quickly diminished this as a possibility. :p
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Ya pretty much, it's all speculation. Maybe she runs a small business off the PC and had customers CC info.
 
xphil3 said:
If any government files classified with anything more than FOUO appeared on her laptop, which was then connected to her personal WiFi network she would be in cuffs and clearance stripped before she knew it. I was thinking exactly this avey, then put myself into that situation and remember'd all the training I had to take and quickly diminished this as a possibility. :p

BTW guys, its xphile ..... not Phil. If you must, my name is Marc ;)
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But whatever you do, don't call him Mark. :p

EDIT - Reminds me, x, get on IRC tonight, I gotta figure out why my BGP just stopped working.
 
The real question is - if he's so good at what he does, why would he DELETE FILES? This is the quickest way to get people to notice that something is wrong. If he really wanted to keep tabs and steal stuff, he'd just copy it, maybe install some type of backdoor and monitor without raising red flags.
 
so did local law enforcement get anyone where on this? I really hope the FBI and Homeland Security didnt waste too much of their time on this BS case, lost pictures...i cant believe they even agreed to look at it.
 
Not to hijack this thread, but...

A couple years back I was running Netstumbler on my laptop while tweaking the settings on my Linksys/DD-WRT router when I noticed that my neighbor had installed a wireless router and had not enabled security. I knew it was his because he named his network using a combination of his and his girlfriend's first names. :rolleyes:

I saw him in the yard a few days later mowing and mentioned to him that I saw his SSID and that he should turn the wireless security on. He didn't realize that it 'broadcast' outside the house and said he would get to it. Well, ~2 weeks later while getting some work done it was still there, wide open. Not only that but sharing was enabled on everything.

I decided to make a point (and also mess with him a bit) by printing a page on his printer that said "bring this printed coupon and a cold microbrew over to Tim's if you would like some help securing your wireless network". Maybe 10 minutes later the doorbell rang! Hah! He was at the front door laughing with beer and coupon in hand, "How the &*(@*% did you do this???"

I will confess that while loading the driver for his printer (from his PC of course) I saw a folder titled "St. Thomas Photos". In it there was an awesome picture of his GF topless on the beach. I did copy it to my PC, but later that day I felt really embarrassed about it (she was a really great lady, even hooked me up with one of her GFs once) so I deleted it, honestly I did

The lesson? If you don't at least try to secure your network you are at a least duplicitous (or greater) in the suspected breach. Although if your geeky neighbor actually did take it to the extremes that you described, that is an entirely different issue.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled thread... :)
 
MinPins said:
Not to hijack this thread, but...

A couple years back I was running Netstumbler on my laptop while tweaking the settings on my Linksys/DD-WRT router when I noticed that my neighbor had installed a wireless router and had not enabled security. I knew it was his because he named his network using a combination of his and his girlfriend's first names. :rolleyes:

I saw him in the yard a few days later mowing and mentioned to him that I saw his SSID and that he should turn the wireless security on. He didn't realize that it 'broadcast' outside the house and said he would get to it. Well, ~2 weeks later while getting some work done it was still there, wide open. Not only that but sharing was enabled on everything.

I decided to make a point (and also mess with him a bit) by printing a page on his printer that said "bring this printed coupon and a cold microbrew over to Tim's if you would like some help securing your wireless network". Maybe 10 minutes later the doorbell rang! Hah! He was at the front door laughing with beer and coupon in hand, "How the &*(@*% did you do this???"

I will confess that while loading the driver for his printer (from his PC of course) I saw a folder titled "St. Thomas Photos". In it there was an awesome picture of his GF topless on the beach. I did copy it to my PC, but later that day I felt really embarrassed about it (she was a really great lady, even hooked me up with one of her GFs once) so I deleted it, honestly I did

The lesson? If you don't at least try to secure your network you are at a least duplicitous (or greater) in the suspected breach. Although if your geeky neighbor actually did take it to the extremes that you described, that is an entirely different issue.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled thread... :)
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Pure fucking win! LOL!!!
 
To contribute my opinion to this thread, I just wanted to say that I find it very difficult to believe that DHS & the FBI are involved in this.

To the original poster, the story just doesn't add up. I am not buying it.

No flames or hostility, just my opinion.
 
AppaYipYip said:
That's why the police have her computer now and the FBI are coming to get it. They also have a Subpoena out for the IP of the inbound access, but Comcast is dragging their feet.
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Lightworker said:
If they have a subpoena out for an IP address, the person came from outside the network, not via unsecured wifi.
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I have to agree, why would someone who hacked the unsecure wireless be transmitting from a public IP, unless the FBI ar trying to Subpoena the user from "192.168.1.5".

Its like the old saying there is no place like 127.0.0.1
 
I feel really sorry for your GF and her mom. Even though it's just computers and files they had their privacy violated and that's something you never really get over. Sounds like you're handling the situation good so far, they're lucky to know you.
 
young_one said:
I have to agree, why would someone who hacked the unsecure wireless be transmitting from a public IP, unless the FBI ar trying to Subpoena the user from "192.168.1.5".

Its like the old saying there is no place like 127.0.0.1
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Oh noes this must be happening in my neighborhood my IP is 192.168.1.6 !
 
blarg said:
Oh noes this must be happening in my neighborhood my IP is 192.168.1.6 !
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o.m.g. I thought I was 192.168.1.6, good thing I keep a homeland security magnet on my desk, calling them up now. hope your neighbor likes jail.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
ocellaris said:
o.m.g. I thought I was 192.168.1.6, good thing I keep a homeland security magnet on my desk, calling them up now. hope your neighbor likes jail.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
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I don't wants no prison raep for my IP. You did it x.0.0.1
 
Wait, wait. Let's make this post even more juvenile and inconsequential than it already is by arguing the semantics of hacker and cracker!
 
im a crazy cracker who is a hacker/script kiddy...........i will get your monies and nudies!!!!:D
 
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