How To Detect Who Is Stealing Your WiFi Network

           Who doesn’t like things which come for free, and for sure free Wireless network is one of the best things you can ask for. Surprisingly, the network statistics for 2014 confirm that stolen Wireless Network is one of the biggest network-related threats that the world is facing. Wireless Networks are generally stolen because we forget to secure it at times, however hackers can still bypass security, here’s how you can detect devices stealing WiFi instantly. Good thing is that you don’t really need much knowledge to follow this tutorial.

Detect Devices Stealing WiFi Instantly

Checking Router Lights

     Well, this is not really a sure-shot success methods, since not all routers/modem come with Wireless network in-use indicator. However, in case you have got yourself one of those with the indicators, just switch off all your wireless devices including mobile phones, laptops, gaming consoles and televisions. In case the router still indicated wireless network in use, some device is busy stealing your wireless network. This is the time you either need to go secure, or you need to update your security password. I will discuss about updating password in the end of this article.

 

Using third-party applications [Recommended]

You’re reading this because your router does not support wireless-in-use indicator. Well, it’s actually good since you will now be able to know exactly who is using your WiFi network, i.e the name of the device using your network would come up using third party applications.

Wireless Network Watcher is one such application you can download for free [Windows only]. The tool is capable of detecting devices connected to your Wireless network instantly, along with their IP address. A screenshot of the same is displayed below.

The only drawback of using third party applications is that hackers can still use Static IP to connect to your wireless networks. In such case Wireless Network Watcher would not be able to detect the device stealing your WiFi network.
MoocherHunter is another interesting application which comes with some more advanced features like giving you the geo-location of wireless moochers. The software is also being used by law enforcement organizations across many parts of the world to detect wireless moochers.

How To Protect Yourself Against Wireless Network Theft

The solution is easy, but we tend to ignore it at times. To protect yourself against Wireless network theft, you should secure your network by adding password to it. WPA-2 is currently the strongest encryption for your WiFi network. Further, a routine change of WiFi password keeps your network in a healthy state. I also recommend you to keep changing the SSID of your network with time.