has someone hacked into my wi-fi??

My internet provider sent me an email on friday about a complaint made against me by BPI for illegally sharing files using bitorrent. The problem is that I have never shared any files on my connection. The IP address they traced it too i do not think is mine, i have looked it up on whois and it shows to be somewhere in scotland- i am in london. However just 2 weeks ago i found out some one has stolen my details and taken several mobile contracts and also opened a bank accont with the Bank of Scotland on my name. Could it be that someone has opened an internet account with my name in scotland?? the other possibility is that someone has hacked in to my home wi-fi. It is encrypted and WEP key protected. I am not sure how this has happened, and any help would be much appreciated.

Sounds like a case of identity theft. While it's certainly possible that you've been hacked, it's in no way required to have your identity stolen. I'm not sure what the procedures are or what agencies handle identity theft in the UK, so we'll have to wait for one of our UK members to respond.

The first thing you must do is inform the police. This is identity theft and fraud. Then talk to your bank and credit card providers, they will probably be able to advise you. They deal with this kind of stuff all the time, so they will have contacts.

I would get a lawyer and go after BT (I assume that is the garbage you are dealing with) and the BPI. You see, making allegations that are "calculated to impair the reputation of someone in the eyes of right thinking individuals" is called "slander" and that is a very expensive hobby :lildevil:

You will want to see a notorised copy of the subpoena/court order that they received from the BPI, and their written confirmation that they understand the recent European High Court ruling regarding the anonymity of ISP's customers?

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Could it be that someone has opened an internet account with my name in scotland?? the other possibility is that someone has hacked in to my home wi-fi. It is encrypted and WEP key protected.

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1. Yes
2. WEP is not protection, certainly not against someone who is into fraud and identity theft. Hell a 5 year old could crack that in minutes

You really need the law and legal advice here mate!

This is not fool proof but look up your IP at

http://www.dshield.org/indexd.html

see if it's been reported for a long time..

Btw, WEP is as good as plaintext ..

What router do you use ? Is the firmware upgraded.. ?

Check your system log's for any unauthorised access..

I am not sure.. but what do you guys think.. should he run wireshark for sometime to check if anyone is connecting ?

as of now.. please change to WEP2-personal and allow only MAC address that are of your systems.. that should help as of now.. also please change the router password too.. check your system for any spyware (esp. trojans) ..

WEP2-personal? I'm sure you mean WPA-PSK?

Another note.. MAC address filtering does NOT help. It's even easier to circumvent then WEP.

Thanks for the replies

I have changed from WEP TO WPA-Personal. I am infact a BT customer and so use there Home Hub which is supposed to automatically get updated every night for the latest security developments. I already have a police reference number about my identity theft and have phoned BT who say they cant check if some one has launched an account in my name but are going to launch an investigation into it. How would I see if someone has had unauthorized access?? I checked both my IP address on the link provided but it says that there have been no reports.

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Originally Posted by bbkk1

...so use there Home Hub which is supposed to automatically get updated every night for the latest security developments. I already have a police reference number about my identity theft and have phoned BT who say they cant check if some one has launched an account in my name but are going to launch an investigation into it. How would I see if someone has had unauthorized access?? I checked both my IP address on the link provided but it says that there have been no reports.

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Any logging features to that "Home Hub"? Maybe you can check it for any LAN clients or dhcp leases. Any way of logging into it?

You might scour eventvwr for anything unusual. Is Remote Desktop enabled? Check "Services" for anything unusual, and maybe run HijackThis to see more. I'd scan that thing for viruses and spyware to make sure.

Chances are your ID was lifted from somewhere other than your computer, though I wouldn't rule it out. Anything sensitive on my PC's gets encrypted (TrueCrypt). If someone cracked your wifi and ran P2P, they should be off now with your reconfig. If BT gets chitty about the P2P downloads, throw it back in their face (was WEP the default?).

WEP is the default............. BT seem to think that it is "secure" :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by nihil

WEP is the default............. BT seem to think that it is "secure" :rolleyes:

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I see the same with the wireless providers here in Shawnee country. WEP
gives them greater compatibility (lot of 802.11b gear out there still) and
creates a legal threshold. As hackers (of sorts), we tend to see technical
issues strictly as that, whereas the CYA (cover your arse) is more fully
handled by the legalisms. With WEP, ISP's can say they are providing
secured wireless that is illegal to crack (cracking WEP is illegal, ain't it?).

Close enough for gubmint work as we like to say in these here parts. :cool:

Not that I'm defending BT...but WEP security is in the default instruction set for configuration set delivered with the devices. I have seen this also in telco operators all over Eastern Europe. The problem is - they just dont give a rat's ass about the users security.
On the original issue. Nihil is right with his instructions. But unless you are keeping scans of your personal ID's on your computer, the identity theft probably happened somewhere else.

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How would I see if someone has had unauthorized access??

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in most cases you can look at your logs by simply typing in your routers address into your web browser.

just unplug your modem, and run an ethernet cord from your router to your computer, go to your network connections, and the ip address is your routers address... this will give you your router settings, and your logs!

as far as you catching this person on your own, highly unlikely...

so just change your encryption, scan your computer, and follow nihil's advice and seek legal action/help; because not only is this identity theft but as stated above

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making allegations that are "calculated to impair the reputation of someone in the eyes of right thinking individuals" is called "slander"

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only in the states we call it "defamation of character"...

good luck from here on out...