Ashley
(not her real name) complained for a year that her notebook
computer had trouble with the wireless in her apartment. In
our typical Daddy-Daughter relationship I was not going to be
allowed access to fix it, I just had to listen to endless
complaints over $15 martinis while I sipped Coca-Cola.
Over
and over I told her "It is better to light one candle than
curse the darkness.", then I remembered "insanity is
doing the same thing over and over expecting different
results" and bought her a tablet.
The
tablet performed flawlessly for weeks, then didn't, and Topeka! I
was invited to the party. All the passwords and IP Addresses were
no longer Top Secret and I was allowed access.
Maybe
too much NCIS and Criminal Minds makes her think I can hack
networks and spy on her, maybe it's because she's seen me hack a
government network from our public library. Kids nowadays, they're
so kooky..
Ashley
had "Leeches". Leeches are people who use your wi-fi to
access your internet instead of paying for their own. I think that
constitutes "Theft of Services" and if something
injurious happens to you because they cause degraded internet
access there should be a civil suit for damages. Anyway.
Five
leeches; a phone, three computers, and a Chromecast device so they
could all stream Netflix to the big screen on Ashley's dime
degrading her bandwidth causing her graduate school websites to
freeze and crash.
I
removed them with extreme prejudice and her websites are now
lightning fast and crash free.
In
case you think leeching is harmless, consider the guy who gets his
door kicked in by the Feds at 6 a.m. accused of distributing
Child Pornography because his pedophile neighbor has been leeching
his internet.
Guess
what? 85% of the wireless routers on the market are hackable,
including the Linksys, ASUS, TRENDnet, Netgear, TP-Link, D-Link,
and Belkin routers from CDW, BestBuy, Walmart and your Internet
Service Provider.
There's
a ton of information on how to better secure your router to keep
leeches off your wireless network. Your Internet Service Provider
isn't going to help you. They feel the router, even if it's theirs
and you just rent it, is your responsibility.
It's
not Rocket Science, just Computer Science, and you can login to
your router and take a look around. There are manuals online for
your router, and online help to explain things while you're logged
in. If you get nervous just do nothing and you'll be automatically
logged out after a few minutes.
At
the very least, in the shallow end of the pool, you'll be able to
see who is using your network listed by the name of the device. If
you see "Craig's Notebook" I can probably see you too,
unless your name is Craig. Just kidding, Craig's Notebook is not
the real name.
Leeches,
pedophiles, Netflix, Rocket Science or not, that's your call, and
that's Cocktail Talk.
