Neighbors keep stealing my internet and resetting permissions - I know they are running Lion and I can't seem to stop them from resetting the wifi and firewall options in Maverick. It's killing my internet and driving me nuts.

Question

Hi - I thougth I was crazy but after a full reinstall of Mavericks and I can still see the utility repair fixing problems I know my neighbors are stealing in internet and using it. They keep finding different ways to do it - the only way I know they are doing it is because when I login to the terminal it no longer uses my HD name but some long server looking name. I turned off my wifi and plugged it in directly. This time, after the reset, they modified my firewall permission and reset some ruby framework. I want to know how to stop this from happening. Please help.

Answer 1

More importantly, or at least as important, you must assign a strong password to your router's login. Service providers of DSL and cable have finally wised up and their routers now come with a preassigned and difficult to guess admin password, but not all. Right now, I'm certain it's at a default. Check the manual for your router, but it's probably something like:
Admin: admin
Password:
Sometimes it's the other way around. The admin name is blank, and the password is simply "admin".
Do this. From Safari, type this into the URL/search field at the top:
192.168.0.1
and press Enter. If the defaults are as simple as what I've shown here, that's how they keep getting back in so easily. All anyone has to do is be in range of your wireless signal, type in this same IP address and get into your router settings by using these uselessly easy to bypass admin name and password settings.
Once into your router's settings, they can see what you've changed the wireless login password to, and just login again. What you need to do more than anything is keep them out of your router's settings.
Go into the router's settings as I described using 192.168.0.1 in Safari. Find the wireless settings and turn all wireless off so no one is getting a signal. This will keep them out while you change things.
1) Change the router's wireless security to WPA2.
2) Change the wireless password to a new, hard to guess password as steve359 showed. Long, random, obnoxious passwords are best. At least 16 characters long.
3) Now, go to the admin login page and give the login password an equally long and difficult password. Remember to do all of this with wireless broadcasting OFF, or they will be able to watch everything you're doing.
4) Now turn wireless access back on. They will no longer able to login to your router to see your wireless access password. Not unless they manage to guess a very hard long and difficult password.
Make sure to write these passwords down so you can get back into the router without manually resetting it.