How easy is it to hack a domestic wifi router?

[Birvidik_Bob]

We have a good deal with Wind in Greece, 30 gigs for 24 euros a month. We have managed to use up the entire allowance on rare occasions, but it’s difficult.
Recently I bought a router so that Liz could access the net using the same dongle and account. The set-up instructions purported to be in EngIish, but turned out to be written in advanced Geek, so I got the man in the shop to set it up and both computers can now access the net simultaneously. The 30 gig renews on the 4th of every month.

On the 10th of this month we switched off the computers, but left the router operative overnight by mistake. When I logged on the next morning the screens came up that had done so previously when the 30 gig had all been used up. It has remained like that ever since.
The explanation that springs to mind is that some thieving git has hacked into the router and used it to download the entire back collections of Downton Abbey and Strictly. Is this feasible?

Oh – and don’t tell me to check with Wind. I went to their local shop but they’ve decided to close it down for refurbishment for 10 days, just in the run up to Christmas. There are no other shops on the island. Sounds like a archetypal Greek business plan.

 

[Steve Clayton]

Yes it is feasible..
Brand and reference of your router please.
Obvious things are change passwords : both Admin and user access, and to use the feature where you tell the router the MAC addresses of the kit that is authorised to connect.
You will probably need the link cable that should be with the router to effect the changes.

Once you are into the router, as Admin, you shoud be able to see the log file and confirm if you have been hacked

 

[mrming]

Unlikely but not impossible. Depends how the wireless network is secured - the WEP protocol is the weakest. WPA is better and WPA2 is better still.

If your wifi password is an unintelligible string of letters and numbers which is impossible to remember, then that is usually WEP.

The first thing I would do is look for another cause such as a Mac in PowerNap mode downloading updates (or an iOS device set to auto backup / update).

 

[nigelmercier]

Depends how the wireless network is secured - the WEP protocol is the weakest. WPA is better and WPA2 is better still...

I suggest that "Open" is the weakest, and the man in the shop may have done this. An active WEP signal can be cracked in minutes using Kali Linux.

Sometimes these systems don't update their accounts in real time, I've been caught out thinking I had more data left than I thought.

 

[Gwylan]

In principle not too difficult, there is software out there to hack a router. Google, beini and wander and wonder from there.

It is illegal and the software is made available for research only. Oh yea!
The more intensely you use the router the easier it gets for the software to hack it. I am told.

Has the apparent speed of the system reduced significantly?

Leaving it 'on' means it is open to offers from others that want to use a wifi signal. And might be prepared to exploit your system.

Did you have a big background update whilst you were on line? Very, very big though........

Have a regime of password changes at regular intervals.

 

[temptress]

We have a good deal with Wind in Greece, 30 gigs for 24 euros a month. We have managed to use up the entire allowance on rare occasions, but it’s difficult.
Recently I bought a router so that Liz could access the net using the same dongle and account. The set-up instructions purported to be in EngIish, but turned out to be written in advanced Geek, so I got the man in the shop to set it up and both computers can now access the net simultaneously. The 30 gig renews on the 4th of every month.

On the 10th of this month we switched off the computers, but left the router operative overnight by mistake. When I logged on the next morning the screens came up that had done so previously when the 30 gig had all been used up. It has remained like that ever since.
The explanation that springs to mind is that some thieving git has hacked into the router and used it to download the entire back collections of Downton Abbey and Strictly. Is this feasible?

Oh – and don’t tell me to check with Wind. I went to their local shop but they’ve decided to close it down for refurbishment for 10 days, just in the run up to Christmas. There are no other shops on the island. Sounds like a archetypal Greek business plan.

Depends on the setup

Do you have a password on the connection or is it open?
Do you know how to connect to the router to change the access settings?

 

[Networks]

We had the same thing happen to us this summer when we were sailing around the Corfu area.
The router had decided the signal from Albania was better than the Greek signal so roamed to the Albanian network which eats your allowance faster than you can believe.
Checking the router settings, it had no option for disable roaming, but did let you "lock" it to a single network, so selected the Greek network and had no further problems after that.
Hope this helps, of course you will have to work all this out in Greek!
You should be able to connect via wireless connection to change settings even if you have used all your network allowance.
Good luck

 

[RichardS]

All the talk about wifi security protocols is irrelevant if you have left the default router login name and password unchanged.

My Father-in-Law lives in a built-up area and when I visit him I often log into the neighbouring routers around his home just by using the default options. I don't use any of their download capacity as FIL has plenty of bandwidth.

Occasionally I see that the SSID i.e. the name of a router which is being broadcast, has been changed to something very rude. This is usually because a stranger has logged in to the router, changed the name to a few rude words and then changed to a non-default password. The owner of the router is then stuck with a router with a rude SSID which they can't change back. (actually they can, quite easily, but it's not obvious how to do it!)

Richard

 

[nigelmercier]

All the talk about wifi security protocols is irrelevant if you have left the default router login name and password unchanged...

So how would you wirelessly log into a router with the username admin and password password if you didn't know the WPA key?

 

[chrisbitz]

So how would you wirelessly log into a router with the username admin and password password if you didn't know the WPA key?

My thoughts exactly. Most UK routers are perfectly secure when left on their default settings out of the box!

 

[Birvidik_Bob]

Many thanks for all the comments.

Steve, the router is a TP-link, model number TL-MR3420

I'll see if I can find the box with the lead in and see what ensues from interrogating the little beastie. The man in the shop set things up so that both our computers automatically enter the passcode. I must have it written down somewhere.

Thanks again all.

Bob

 

[mjcoon]

Many thanks for all the comments.

Steve, the router is a TP-link, model number TL-MR3420

I'll see if I can find the box with the lead in and see what ensues from interrogating the little beastie. The man in the shop set things up so that both our computers automatically enter the passcode. I must have it written down somewhere.

Typically the pass code is printed on a label underneath the router itself. I see it has a "WPS button" (http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?model=TL-MR3420#spec) which may bypass encryption temporarily. (Sorry, could not be bother to "RTFM"!)

Mike.

Mike.

 

[RichardS]

So how would you wirelessly log into a router with the username admin and password password if you didn't know the WPA key?

You're right of course. I blame pre-Sunday-lunch drinks!

Richard

 

[PhillM]

To hack, about 10 minuites for one of my tech guys.

Plenty of tools around. Easy to take over any wifi and use the data.

 

[lpdsn]

To hack, about 10 minuites for one of my tech guys.

Plenty of tools around. Easy to take over any wifi and use the data.

Heard pretty much the same from people who know how to do it. After a discussion, I've done the following but I'm under no illusion that it isn't more than just making me a more difficult target than the next guy.

Wireless network doesn't broadcast itself - so to connect you need to know the name.
MAC addresses configured in the router , won't allow connections from other PCs (doesn't means MAC addresses can't be spoofed, but it's a start).
Won't dynamically allocate an IP address (so at least they have to get the IP address right - but not a problem if they've intercepted and decoded previous traffic).
WPA2
key > 40 chars (was told the encryption was weak and it was a doddle to crack shorter ones).

 

[laika]

To hack, about 10 minuites for one of my tech guys.

Plenty of tools around. Easy to take over any wifi and use the data.

"Any" you say.? Quite a bold statement. I'm intrigued. Care to be more specific about what you mean exactly? Obviously if you're head of the NSA there's no need to answer that.

 

[lpdsn]

Oh – and don’t tell me to check with Wind.

I presume this was mobile data ( I guess it's the same Wind who are one of the mobile operators in Italy). They'll have all the CDRs for your usage, so you should be able to find out when the last usage was. i.e. when you think you stopped using it, or several hours later. And indeed how much was used in that period. Depending how their systems work, they will most likely have an EDR for when you exhausted the bundle and redirection started to the page that tells you that it's exhausted.

 

[PhillM]

"Any" you say.? Quite a bold statement. I'm intrigued. Care to be more specific about what you mean exactly? Obviously if you're head of the NSA there's no need to answer that.

Ok "any" might be a bit optimistic. But I do employ done rather clever people and most wifi isn't that clever. Oh and to be clear, I don't let them go hacking on company time.

 

[laika]

Ok "any" might be a bit optimistic. But I do employ done rather clever people and most wifi isn't that clever. Oh and to be clear, I don't let them go hacking on company time.

I surmise from this that your statement is based on confidence in your employees' l33t skillz rather than personal technical knowledge.

WPA2 with a non-trivial password would take a bit longer to crack than 10 minutes. Of course such a statement is tempered by the fact that I don't know whether or not you have access to a massive underground supercomputing facility in Utah.

Is it a good plan to imply that your staff are criminals out of office hours?

 

[PhillM]

I surmise from this that your statement is based on confidence in your employees' l33t skillz rather than personal technical knowledge.

WPA2 with a non-trivial password would take a bit longer to crack than 10 minutes. Of course such a statement is tempered by the fact that I don't know whether or not you have access to a massive underground supercomputing facility in Utah.

Is it a good plan to imply that your staff are criminals out of office hours?

No,no now don't get this out of proportion. All I'm saying is that wifi isn't that secure and most routers can be compromised fairly easily. A bit like windows passwords and other so called secure stuff that is in daily use.

The question was "could it be hacked". The answer is "easily".