Possible security issue, not sure what to do

[90redgt]

Well here's what just happened. I was surfing the net tonight. And a little pop-up on the lower bar where the time is displayed on WinXP came up. It came from the windows security center, it said that there is a conflict with another IP address on the network. I tried to click on it but it just dissappears when i do that. I have my firewall on. And i'm on a wireless connection. i'm pretty sure no-one is checking out my files on my computer but how do i see who this other IP address is or where its coming from? Sounds like someone may just be trying to steal some of my bandwidth but how do go about stopping this intruder?


thanks, Brandon

[Toksin]

Check your router security settings.

MAC address security FTW.

[l_eclipse_l]

Log into your router and view the IP's it has dished out. It will give a computer name along with the IP it has given. If you don't recognize the computer, kill the connection and see if your router has an option to block it. Or you could set up some type of secure authenticating. If you don't know the IP address to your router, the instruction manual will have that information or you could google your model router and find it.

[90redgt]

ok thanks for the info guys, i'm gonna try all that stuff tonight. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Thanks again.

[Polygon]

You should also enable WEP or WPA if you have that. Then you would have a key and they would have to know the key to get access. It would also encrypt the data. You don't want other people seeing what you're doing on the net. However, I highly suggest using MAC address authentication if your router supports it.

[90redgt]

Originally Posted by Polygon

You should also enable WEP or WPA if you have that. Then you would have a key and they would have to know the key to get access. It would also encrypt the data. You don't want other people seeing what you're doing on the net. However, I highly suggest using MAC address authentication if your router supports it.

I figured out how to log into the router and found the MAC address authentication option. There's two for my router (Linksys Wireless-G) one is where you make a list of Mac addresses that are allowed on the network, and the other option is to Block specific MAC addresses. I clicked on the 1st option, and it immediately kicked off the wireless computer from the internet. I couldnt' find out how to get it back onto the network because I don't know how to find the MAC address of that computer so i can put it on the list of allowed addresses. Do you know how I could find that information so i can put that info onto the router's settings?

[Oz]

To find out the MAC address of a network device, open a command prompt and type "ipconfig/all"

The MAC address is listed under Physical Address.

If you're doing all this to solve a "IP Conflict" error message, just type ipconfig /renew in a command prompt and it should solve the problem.

If your router doesn't have any security enabled, you should enable it as suggested. WPA is much more secure than WEP.

[90redgt]

Originally Posted by Oz

To find out the MAC address of a network device, open a command prompt and type "ipconfig/all"

The MAC address is listed under Physical Address.

If you're doing all this to solve a "IP Conflict" error message, just type ipconfig /renew in a command prompt and it should solve the problem.

If your router doesn't have any security enabled, you should enable it as suggested. WPA is much more secure than WEP.

Ok i went ahead and setup the MAC authentication security. Should i still enable WPA? Or is it unnecessary now that i have the MAC address authentication feature enabled?

[Oz]

Enable WPA as well, then you'll be ultra secure.

[Polygon]

Originally Posted by Oz

Enable WPA as well, then you'll be ultra secure.

Even with the MAC address authentication on they can still see what is going on since the data is unencrypted and if they are clever enough they can spoof a MAC address that is on your allowed list and get into the network. With WPA enabled they won't be able to do that.

[90redgt]

Ok i'll go ahead and do WPA, thanks for the help.

[90redgt]

Alright, well enabled WPA2 and everything seems to be working great. Thanks for all the input guys. That was easier than I thought.