Does network scanner work?

E

extrafuzzyllama

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 29, 2010
Messages
303
Hi all I wanted to know if network scanners work to find if someone is using my wifi without me knowing.
I ask because I am not sure if someone like maybe neighbor got into my network.
Last night my internet slowed to a crawl, I checked my connection speed and it seemed like dial up.
I changed my ssid and password and went back to a speed test and back to speed I am used to getting.
So I am a bit concerned if it was just my router acting up and fixed itself after changing ssid or should I up network security and how to go about increasing security.
I have a netgear WNDR3700 router on latest official firmware.
I also have a linksys router setup as just a wifi ap on tomato firmware.
Today I also installed Fing ipad app to scan network for any unknown devices connected via wifi to my network. So wanted to also know of these scanners work to find any potential hacker or can they hide from a scan like this.
thx in advance.
 
Fing will show anything connected to your network, it's just a process of elimination from there to determine what belongs there or not. The only way,I think, they could hide from the scan is if they are spoofing a mac address that belongs to a device that's already on your network
 
xLokiX said:
Fing will show anything connected to your network, it's just a process of elimination from there to determine what belongs there or not. The only way,I think, they could hide from the scan is if they are spoofing a mac address that belongs to a device that's already on your network
Click to expand...

I disconnected all devices and then named them within Fing app and the MAC address spoofing concerns me. I will have to check how to detect that and secure against it.
 
god forbid your neighbors phone should connect through your network...horrors
 
Are you using WEP or WPA? If you're using WEP, stop and switch to WPA2 with a 13+ character password, and turn off WiFi Protected Setup. That's about as secure as you are gonna get, and will likely deter all but the most determined WiFi leaches. If that's what you're worried about.
 
xLokiX said:
Are you using WEP or WPA? If you're using WEP, stop and switch to WPA2 with a 13+ character password, and turn off WiFi Protected Setup. That's about as secure as you are gonna get, and will likely deter all but the most determined WiFi leaches. If that's what you're worried about.
Click to expand...

I am using wpa2 and have wifi setup off. I guess maybe just router issue last night
 
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