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SoftPerfect WiFi Guard allows you to know immediately if your network is used without your knowledge. It's a specalised network scanner that runs through your network at set intervals and reports immediately if it has found any new connected devices that could possible belong to an intruder.

http://www.softperfect.com/products/wifiguard/

Seems this is their first cross platform application.

Added here: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2356

I can't help feeling that we miss some kind of Internet/Network - Security category.

Thank you, joby_toss. Me very

I am Baas wrote:http://www.softperfect.com/products/wifiguard/

Thanks Joby and Baas: great add. I used to do something like this using one of SoftPerfect's other programs, NetScanner. The point then was to help track down who was using an open wireless connection as their primary net connection (and abusing it), and then block them on the router. This is a much faster and easier way to see if someone's on your network who shouldn't be.

Maybe a silly question, but if I block an intruder, what happens the next time when he tries to connect. Wouldn't he get a new IP that isn't blocked?

As I understand, this is more about informing you of an unauthorized connection and less about blocking someone.

joby_toss wrote:As I understand, this is more about informing you of an unauthorized connection and less about blocking someone.

Agreed. It's similar to Wireless Network Watcher.

Kea wrote:Maybe a silly question, but if I block an intruder, what happens the next time when he tries to connect. Wouldn't he get a new IP that isn't blocked?

Hi Kea,

If your referring to webfork's comment "block them on the router", I'm sure he is/was using DHCP server's 'MAC Address Filtering', utilizing an explicit allow/deny list in which any client that had previously received an IP address would be denied renewal if it's MAC address was not on the allow list or is on the deny list.

HTH,

~Ruby

Kea,

Change your WiFi password if you have intruders to something a little longer. MAC address filtering is easy to spoof if you know how.

At the end of the day nobody should be running an open WiFi router. If nothing else you are leaving yourself open to having it abused and possible losing your connection if they do something against the ISP's T&C.

Ruby and guinness, I was just curious. We don't have any intruders, maybe because we have no nabors within reach from the network:-) But if I search for networks from my smart phone (again just curious), when visiting our nearest towns, I always find an astonishing amount of open networks.

But if I use an application that in fact tells me that I have an intruder on my closed network, it would be nice if it could give me at least a hint on what to do about it.

May I remind here that openness is what made the Internet what it is today? So, unless you have good reasons (rising costs, excessive bandwidth consumption, effective ISP terms breach, for example), no one should block third party access. That is the reason I keep a concurrent G type WLAN unsecured on my N type home router. Which doesn't mean one shouldn't be vigilant...

That makes no sense. You say you want to be open and yet you say you want to block unknown devices from connecting? So why not just set a password and give it to those who you want to have access? Which is better, being proactive or reactive? In the time it takes you to notice a new device connected to your router I could of downloaded god knows how many files or sent god knows how many spam emails, all from your IP. That and it's not that hard to change a MAC address.

You must have misunderstood me: where did I say I want to block anything?

And for the sake of argument, just imagine if every node of the Internet (proactively) asked for a password to route your traffic...