Computer Question

[ColterDC 10+ year member]

Is it true that when you access a webpage that the people with authority of that page can see your IP address? For example when you post here can the admins/mods see your IP address?

If so, is it possible for someone to collect your IP address and if you never changed your default router password, could they access your network?

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[SPLC]

Yerp.

 

[05trailblazer 10+ year member]

it could be done

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

You can only access router settings if you are a computer on the network. So, unless someone went through the work of planting a virus whose sole purpose is to adjust your router settings, no it isn't possible

 

[ColterDC 10+ year member]

You can only access router settings if you are a computer on the network. So, unless someone went through the work of planting a virus whose sole purpose is to adjust your router settings, no it isn't possible

I wasn't wondering about them accessing the router settings, but more being able to "piggyback" onto your internet connection to download or whatever. But that might be the same thing.

 

[Germ305 10+ year member]

You can only access router settings if you are a computer on the network. So, unless someone went through the work of planting a virus whose sole purpose is to adjust your router settings, no it isn't possible

Thanks for getting to it before i did lol

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

germ knows his shit...

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for getting to it before i did lol

lol I figured if I didn't someone else would //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

And colter, to answer your question about piggybacking, same thing applies here. The closest thing you'll get to piggybacking is if

A. You are within wireless distance of a wireless router

B. You, again, plant a virus on a computer, and use the computer as a proxy on a part of a VPN (virtual private network).

 

[ColterDC 10+ year member]

Thanks,

Just trying to figure out how someone could have managed to us my IP to download some illegal crap.

Got some notice from the ISP talking about copyright infrigment and when I checked the router logs it appears that some laptop was accessing the router. But I had changed the default passwords years ago and am pretty sure the wireless is disabled. And of course all the anti-virus, ad ware and spyware scanners are up to date and run almost nightly.

Frustrating.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Thanks,
Just trying to figure out how someone could have managed to us my IP to download some illegal crap.

Got some notice from the ISP talking about copyright infrigment and when I checked the router logs it appears that some laptop was accessing the router. But I had changed the default passwords years ago and am pretty sure the wireless is disabled.

Frustrating.

Double check that the wireless is disabled, more than likely he used that

 

[Sub Woofin 10+ year member]

yes OP, yes

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Thanks,
Just trying to figure out how someone could have managed to us my IP to download some illegal crap.

Got some notice from the ISP talking about copyright infrigment and when I checked the router logs it appears that some laptop was accessing the router. But I had changed the default passwords years ago and am pretty sure the wireless is disabled. And of course all the anti-virus, ad ware and spyware scanners are up to date and run almost nightly.

Frustrating.

Disabling the wireless broadcast is merely an obstacle. Its still easy to see your wireless router and access it for someone who knows what they are doing.

Make sure you have a solid password with capitol letters and numbers. Make sure its not in the dictionary. Something like: A647B32aqz98M.

Make sure you use an encryption method other than WEP. It can be cracked in about 5 minutes flat on a slow computer. The best option is WPA2 Personal with AES.

And lastly you need to pick a single reputable antivirus software and a single reputable antimalware software. Having multiple security softwares installed is ineffective at best. They fight each other for resources, DLL Hooks, and 99.9% of them are not compatible with one another which hurts performance. Also keep in mind neither one is 100%. The best option is to isolate your browser inside a sandbox like DropMyRights or Sandboxie.

 

[ColterDC 10+ year member]

Disabling the wireless broadcast is merely an obstacle. Its still easy to see your wireless router and access it for someone who knows what they are doing.
Make sure you have a solid password with capitol letters and numbers. Make sure its not in the dictionary. Something like: A647B32aqz98M.

Make sure you use an encryption method other than WEP. It can be cracked in about 5 minutes flat on a slow computer. The best option is WPA2 Personal with AES.

So if I'm following you correctly, it's better to have the wireless enabled using WPA2 security encryption with an obviously strong paraphrase instead of just having the wireless disabled?

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

So if I'm following you correctly, it's better to have the wireless enabled using WPA2 security encryption with an obviously strong paraphrase instead of just having the wireless disabled?

Absolutely. There are tons of free software out there that still allow you to view and connect to a "hidden" wireless network. If you enable encryption and hide it they can see it all they want. If you have strong encryption they will never crack it.

 

[ColterDC 10+ year member]

Absolutely. There are tons of free software out there that still allow you to view and connect to a "hidden" wireless network. If you enable encryption and hide it they can see it all they want. If you have strong encryption they will never crack it.

Ok, I guess I always assumed that if the wireless was disabled that no one could use your router's wireless unless they were hardwired into it.