How To Know If Someone Is Using Your WiFi

While you surf the internet on your computer, you observe that the internet speed is getting slow. You check on other devices such as tablet, smart phone etc. and find that you are not able to watch the videos without pauses and unnecessary buffering. In this tutorial, we’ll help you find if someone is using your WiFi internet connection through different methods. In that way, you’ll be able to remove unknown people from using the internet and save your internet data.

While it may be the case that your internet connection is down from the internet service provider’s end itself but if not, it may so happen that someone around your home, may be your neighbour, is stealing your WiFi connection. While it is an advantage with WiFi connection that you can access the network within good range of space within and outside the home, it may become disadvantageous for you if it gets stolen by others.

It can be the case that somebody might be sucking your bandwidth and causing annoyance to you. Another disadvantage is that others may get access to the shared folder where you might have stored your files and they may indulge in illegal activities against you. You would be paying for the WiFi connection which gets stolen by others and as a result, you do not get good internet experience.

In such a scenario, it becomes essential to find out whether this is the case or not. Let Us Find Out How To Know If Someone Is Using Your Wifi:

1# Check Out Wireless Router Lights:

Your wireless router has different light indicators for showing internet connectivity, hardwired network connection and wireless connection. Firstly, shut down or unplug all the wireless devices that are using the wireless connection.

Now check if the wireless light is still blinking or not. If it does, it means your wireless connection is being used by others. Though this method is not very accurate if you are using several wireless devices but it can still give you an idea of whether your WiFi connection is being compromised. For this reason, you would have to unplug all the wireless devices such as TV, game console etc.

2# Check Out List of Router Devices:

In the administrative console of your router, you can find complete details about the wireless network activity and security settings. You need your IP address of your router for logging into the administrative console. First press Win + R and then cmd to go to Command Prompt. Now type ipconfig and you can find the default gateway of the IP address. Open your browser window and type that IP address and you can now have the option to login into the router.

If the default settings of your router have not been changed, you can get all the login information including admin and password from router documentation. It is recommended that you change this login information before the hacker does so.

You can get the IP address, device name and MAC address in the list of “Attached Devices”, “Device List” or anything like this which varies according to your router type. Here, you can check if there is any unwanted user listed. If you found one, you can change your security settings to WPA2-AES that will block any unauthorized usage of your internet connection.

3# Using Networking Monitoring Software:

MoocherHunter is a kind of software tool that can be used to locate the hacker using your WiFi connection. It has also been used by the law enforcement organizations to track Wi-Fi Moochers in Asia. This software is good enough to track the geographical location of your wireless hacker, within 2 meters radius, through the traffic the hackers send across the network.

This software does not run like other software in executable format but it gets burned into a CD and then it boots the computer. It works on the concept that using your laptop and antenna of your wireless card, you can walk around to locate the WiFi moocher.

4# Using More Secured WiFi:

One of the preventive measures you can take is to have more secured network.The more secured you are, the less likely it is for the wireless network to be hacked. WPA is a less secured network while WPA2 is more secured and you should prefer using this over others. Make sure that your connection is well encrypted.

If you are using WEP, it is a less secured network and likely to be exposed to hacking. To check the kind of connection you are using in your system, you can go to wireless connection properties and identify the security type. It is always preferable to use WPA2 (AES) encryption with a strong password. Additional security measures like MAC address filtering can be taken and configured.

However, if you have to use WEP or open wireless network for any reason, you can add a new secured wireless network for the important tasks and leave the unsecured one for guests.

5# Using Wireless Network Watcher:

Wireless Network Watcher is another software tool provided by Nir Sofer which can be used for tracking if somebody might not be using your WiFi. It is a good tool since it automatically starts scanning your network adapter for all the connected devices. It does not require you to set up IP address ranges.

You can also scan another adapter or any custom IP address, you can press F9 and use advanced options. It is quite fast and quick to scan the IP range and you can get complete details of device, MAC address etc. You can also set a background scan through which it continuously detects new devices and you can do so by pressing F9 in Advanced Options Windows.

6# Using Advanced IP Scanner:

Advanced IP Scanner is a network administration tool that provides all the details including scanning of your network. It is an all rounder tool which is capable of doing a number of tasks and comes with remote options to shutdown, connect and remote control. You need not to change the IP range if you only have one active connection.

After the scan is completed, all the connections will be shown including details of device manufacturer, device name and MAC address. Advanced IP Scanner will set the range of addresses for all the connections on your computer