Wifi issue of concern this morning...

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Okay, so the way I have the house set up is as follows.  There's a computer upstairs that's a wired connection, via the cable modem and a wireless router.  There is a wifi extender on the porch that connects to the wireless router and allows wifi coverage on the porch.  There is a wireless adaptor on a computer downstairs that allows me to login to the wireless router upstairs.  We routinely connect our phones to the wifi in order to avoid data usage.

I went to bed, still on wifi, but I don't recall which I was connected to, the house wifi or the extender.  I wake up this morning, and have one of those notifications that says "open browser to finish connecting", like it does when you login to a hotel wifi and have to provide login info.  This is already 100% out of the ordinary.  I open the browser and it directs me to h.fb.com, and asks for login info.  I give it nothing and look to find that I'm logged in to the extender.  I try to connect to the house wifi.  It won't connect.  I open a browser window on the upstairs computer and it goes to my homepage, without incident.  I bring up the router maintenance program on the computer, change the password, and try to log my phone in using the new password.  Still no dice.  It will only connect to the extender.  So that gets unplugged right away, I'll deal with that when I get home and change its password.  I check the router's client list, which should at the very least, show the upstairs computer via wired connection, the downstairs computer, and the wifi DVD player.  The upstairs computer is the ONLY connected device.  I try to login with the downstairs computer, using the new password.  Still won't connect.  I unplug the modem and the router for a minute or so.  Plug those two back in, and everything is back to normal.  I can connect to the upstairs wireless router.

So I've run several virus/malware programs on my phone, finding nothing.  I've got virus scans running on BOTH computers at home and will check the results when I get there.

I'm a little shaken by this.

[hefdaddy42]

My wife is in IT and security, and in my experience, occasionally shit happens, and 85% of technical issues are solved by unplugging/restarting or rebooting.

Hopefully, it was just one of those things.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

My mind is attributing this to something considerably more sinister, but I'm hoping you're right.

[hefdaddy42]

My mind is attributing this to something considerably more sinister, but I'm hoping you're right.

Oh, it definitely COULD be something more sinister.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Well, hopefully the steps I've taken have shaken off anything that could further compromise the system.

[Jester]

[Stadler]

Russia. 

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I posted this on the other forum I peruse regularly, and I shit you not, they suggested Russia as well.  Too funny.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

The interesting thing is that when I enter h.fb.com into my mobile browser, it resolves to a standard Facebook login page.  If I type in www.facebook.com, it goes to the exact same page.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Also, I spoke to one my our in-house IT guys, explained everything to him and he said "Your set up sounds exactly like mine, and every single thing you explained to me is exactly the steps I'd have taken".  He seems assured that I'm fine from a security standpoint.  He mentioned the new AC-style routers, and how much better they are, in terms of range and reliability.  I'm currently using an old Belkin N300 router.  He also mentioned the option of setting up MAC address filtering for my router so that ONLY the MAC addresses I allow can access my router.  A possibility at some point, if I feel it necessary.

[El Barto]

So have the federales kicked in your door yet? Shouldn't take them much longer to get there.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I should hope not.

[Dublagent66]

You've been hacked by Putin Coz.


No seriously, it's probably nothing.  Wifi's go haywire all the time.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

That's what I'm leaning towards.  If both virus scans return nothing and I get no odd charges on my debit card in the next week or so, I'll figure I'm fine.

[Jester]

We can't help if you won't give us all the information.

Just tell us what kind of porn you were torrenting when this happened.

I'd definitely do the MAC filtering.  I did that with my business server.  It can be somewhat annoying if you want to give a guest some access (although sometimes you can have a guest setting) to explain to them that you need to set them up, but simply limiting it takes care of 99% of the possible problems.  It is usually easier to troubleshoot something you were responsible for, but troubleshooting a mess somebody else caused is usually ten fold worse.

One time I had a server that I had to reinstall (easier than trying to troubleshoot what this idiot might have done) because somebody thought they were a "hacker".  Downloaded a WiFI snoop so they could steal the neighbors WiFi.  Ran it on my network, which just fucked up my network.  I didn't allow people to talk me into allowing friends via MAC inclusion after that.  I'd rather hear how my WiFi is hard to connect to as a guest.  Yeah.  That's the point.  It is supposed to be easy for me, not you.  Don't screw me up because you want to save $19.99 a month for DSL.

Odds are that even if it was a hack, you weren't the direct target.  More likely somebody trying to just steal some WiFi and not data.

Also, make sure your administrator WiFi passwords are changed.  And when somebody asks to join your network (even your visiting mom), tell them to join and hand over their device when they require the password.  You will type it in for them.  If you share it with them, eventually one of them will share it with somebody else.  That new girlfriend that everybody knows is trouble, but they swear is "cool".

[TAC]

Okay, so the way I have the house set up is as follows.  There's a computer upstairs that's a wired connection, via the cable modem and a wireless router.  There is a wifi extender on the porch that connects to the wireless router and allows wifi coverage on the porch.  There is a wireless adaptor on a computer downstairs that allows me to login to the wireless router upstairs.  We routinely connect our phones to the wifi in order to avoid data usage.

I went to bed, still on wifi, but I don't recall which I was connected to, the house wifi or the extender.  I wake up this morning, and have one of those notifications that says "open browser to finish connecting", like it does when you login to a hotel wifi and have to provide login info.  This is already 100% out of the ordinary.  I open the browser and it directs me to h.fb.com, and asks for login info.  I give it nothing and look to find that I'm logged in to the extender.  I try to connect to the house wifi.  It won't connect.  I open a browser window on the upstairs computer and it goes to my homepage, without incident.  I bring up the router maintenance program on the computer, change the password, and try to log my phone in using the new password.  Still no dice.  It will only connect to the extender.  So that gets unplugged right away, I'll deal with that when I get home and change its password.  I check the router's client list, which should at the very least, show the upstairs computer via wired connection, the downstairs computer, and the wifi DVD player.  The upstairs computer is the ONLY connected device.  I try to login with the downstairs computer, using the new password.  Still won't connect.  I unplug the modem and the router for a minute or so.  Plug those two back in, and everything is back to normal.  I can connect to the upstairs wireless router.

So I've run several virus/malware programs on my phone, finding nothing.  I've got virus scans running on BOTH computers at home and will check the results when I get there.

I'm a little shaken by this.

Jeez, what's weird is that on OLF (Old Lady Forum) there's a thread describing a similar situation. It's the Trolling My Son Shouldn't Be This Much Fun thread.

[Stadler]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I saw that post.  She put something up about Steel Panther, but I wasn't sure what it was all about. 

[Jester]

Also, I'm sure you already know this, but Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free is a pretty good malware scanner that you can use with your current AV (but just as a scanner, not concurrently in real time).  Make sure the scan for rootkits box is checked.

[hefdaddy42]

Okay, so the way I have the house set up is as follows.  There's a computer upstairs that's a wired connection, via the cable modem and a wireless router.  There is a wifi extender on the porch that connects to the wireless router and allows wifi coverage on the porch.  There is a wireless adaptor on a computer downstairs that allows me to login to the wireless router upstairs.  We routinely connect our phones to the wifi in order to avoid data usage.

I went to bed, still on wifi, but I don't recall which I was connected to, the house wifi or the extender.  I wake up this morning, and have one of those notifications that says "open browser to finish connecting", like it does when you login to a hotel wifi and have to provide login info.  This is already 100% out of the ordinary.  I open the browser and it directs me to h.fb.com, and asks for login info.  I give it nothing and look to find that I'm logged in to the extender.  I try to connect to the house wifi.  It won't connect.  I open a browser window on the upstairs computer and it goes to my homepage, without incident.  I bring up the router maintenance program on the computer, change the password, and try to log my phone in using the new password.  Still no dice.  It will only connect to the extender.  So that gets unplugged right away, I'll deal with that when I get home and change its password.  I check the router's client list, which should at the very least, show the upstairs computer via wired connection, the downstairs computer, and the wifi DVD player.  The upstairs computer is the ONLY connected device.  I try to login with the downstairs computer, using the new password.  Still won't connect.  I unplug the modem and the router for a minute or so.  Plug those two back in, and everything is back to normal.  I can connect to the upstairs wireless router.

So I've run several virus/malware programs on my phone, finding nothing.  I've got virus scans running on BOTH computers at home and will check the results when I get there.

I'm a little shaken by this.

Jeez, what's weird is that on OLF (Old Lady Forum) there's a thread describing a similar situation. It's the Trolling My Son Shouldn't Be This Much Fun thread.

LOL

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Yeah, that was good.

I have Malwarebytes running on both computers, as well as the Norton Security Suite that is offered as a part of being a Comcast internet customer.  Both virus scans returned nothing, so that's good.  My IT guy yesterday seemed somewhat impressed at how well versed I was at having the first clue about ANYTHING home network security related, so for him, I'm sure it was probably refreshing to discuss an issue like this with someone who kinda knew what they were doing, as opposed to most people who likely don't even know how to change their wifi password.

[Jester]

as opposed to most people who likely don't even know how to change their wifi password.

Which I believe is the number one way hackers steal wifi.

[Jester]

Shot in the dark article.
Netgear security flaw

Even if this isn't for Coz, it is a popular enough wifi router that some here might need to read it.

[TAC]

Yeah, that was good.

I have Malwarebytes running on both computers, as well as the Norton Security Suite that is offered as a part of being a Comcast internet customer.  Both virus scans returned nothing, so that's good.  My IT guy yesterday seemed somewhat impressed at how well versed I was at having the first clue about ANYTHING home network security related, so for him, I'm sure it was probably refreshing to discuss an issue like this with someone who kinda knew what they were doing, as opposed to most people who likely don't even know how to change their wifi password.

Your awesomeness knows no bounds..