If your home Wi-Fi has been slow and sluggish lately, it could be for a variety of reasons. Slow streaming and devices dropping from the network could be down to a range of connection problems, but if everything appears to be fine on your provider’s end, the bandwidth could be being used up by a neighbour or even just somebody passing by.
If your Wi-Fi signal is available throughout the area and your security isn’t that tight, there’s a good chance that your internet is being used for free. We’ve put together this guide on how to tell if somebody is freeloading off of your Wi-Fi, and what to do about it.
Others piggybacking off your Wi-Fi without your permission aren’t just inconvenient; along with using up your bandwidth, they can also pose a risk of infecting devices on your network with malware and viruses.
Look for Suspicious Guests on Your Router
If you’ve noticed that your Wi-Fi connection is more sluggish than usual recently, it’s time to determine whether or not the issue is an unwanted guest. The first step to doing this is to check out your router’s activity. If you have already set up login details, simply login to your router and check out the Device List or Attached Devices in order to see who is connected. Are all the devices yours? Can you see any devices that you don’t recognise, or is there a mysterious unknown device? Does the list of devices on your router tally up to more than you have at home? If you don’t recognise a device on the list, there should be an option to delete or remove it.
Improve Your Security
Even if you’ve logged into your router and gotten rid of any suspicious devices on your network, there’s nothing stopping them from connecting again if you don’t do anything to change your security settings, so make sure that the next step is to boost your security. The first thing to do is change your default admin username and password which your router came with. Use a strong password that would be difficult to guess; don’t use any common phrases or names. If you don’t change your default login details, it’s easier than you think for cybercriminals - or Wi-Fi thieves - to find the default login credentials for most popular router models. If you’ve already updated your username and password to what you believe to be something that’s unique and strong and have still found unknown devices on your network, it’s definitely time to change it.
Hide Your Network’s SSID
The SSID is the name that you give your wireless network. Most are set as default to the brand name of the router or the name of the network and it’s what you see when you connect to the internet using Wi-Fi on your smartphone, tablet or laptop. However, keeping the default SSID name could make it easier for unauthorised users to hack into your network and use it for free. To update your security even further, change the SSID name to something random and as long as possible, which will help to prevent hackers from using attacks to attempt to crack your wireless encryption. You can also hide the SSID on your router, meaning that the network will not show up for anybody searching for networks in the area.
Update Firmware
You should regularly check for any available firmware updates on your router and any other devices that are a part of your network, including computers, tablets, smartphones, laptops and IoT devices. Firmware updates often include security improvements, so it’s important to stay on top of them, especially as these updates are often done as a result of hackers being able to gain access to the previous version. In addition, if you are using any anti-virus software on your devices, keeping these up to date is also important in helping avoid unauthorised users on your network along with other attacks, viruses and malware.
Enable WPA2 Encryption
If you have not already done so, you should check your wireless router’s manual in order to enable WPA2 encryption on your wireless router and set a strong password for the network. Encryption is a basic, essential element of wireless security. While encryption may already be turned on, it’s important to enable WPA2 encryption rather than the older and outdated WEP encryption which leaves your system more vulnerable and is more susceptible to attacks.
Switch off Allowing Admin Via Wireless
Most routers will have a feature that allows admins to access it via wireless. However, if possible, you should switch this feature off as added protection against hackers, which will help to prevent wireless hackers from gaining control of your wireless routers. Switching this feature off instructs your router to only permit administration access from a computer that is directly connected to the router via an Ethernet cable. As a result, a user would need to be in your home and plugged into the network in order to access the admin console of your router. If you do not have an ethernet cable and need to access via wireless, it’s a good idea to only switch it on when you need access and switch it back off again when you are done, if possible.
Stay on Top of Things
Finally, keeping your Wi-Fi network secure isn’t usually a one and done kind of job. Just like any online security, you need to check regularly and stay on top of things in order to ensure that your network has not been compromised since. Remember that hackers are always coming up with new ways to crack networks and gain unauthorised access, so if it’s been a while since you checked your network for devices that you don’t recognise or changed your password, you should do it again even if your connection hasn’t had any obvious issues.
Unauthorised users on your Wi-Fi network can slow it down and cause other more serious issues. Knowing how to identify and prevent unauthorised use of your network is key.
