I have a router that provides both wired and wireless network. The input cable is Ethernet and there are a total of three people in my house, who use the internet. Two of us use cables and one uses a wireless connection. I also use a wireless connection on my tablet. I have installed a genie software on my computer that informs me whenever another connection is made on the network. Now the software is showing 6 people connected yet it is supposed to be 4 devices. Has someone intruded my network? How do I block them off? Can I find out who that is?
There are intruders on my network
There may be some bug in the genie software you are using. I will advice to log into the router. I believe the router is low cost Netgear router as you have mentioned genie software. So if you log in to the router you will get a graphical user interface to manage the router.
In this GUI mode you will get an option to find out the MAC address of the devices which are connected with the router. Match this MAC address with the MAC address of your PC and tablet and your friend’s PCs. If it is showing only 4 MAC address then there is no intruder in your network. But if there is 6 MAC address then there are two device connected which is unknown to you. After matching the MAC address with your four devices the extra two MAC addresses you will get for the two intruder devices.
To block the intruder use MAC filtering in your network. In the Netgear router you will get option to enter the MAC address manually which are allowed to connect with the router. Enter the MAC address there manually for all your devices and choose the option not to allow the other devices having a MAC address other than these.
You will get the MAC address of the intruder but it will be difficult for you to find out the name of the person. But as they are using your WI-FI so their system is very near your home. With the help of some software you can even find out the IP address of the intruder as well. But the IP address will be your router assigned DHCP address. Best option is block any device other than your devices and continue using your network.
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There are intruders on my network
If you suspect that someone connected to your Wi-Fi network, you can check the MAC address that is associated with every IP address connected to your router. On your computer, start the genie program and check the MAC address associated with every IP address on the list.
The IP address for every device connected to your Wi-Fi network is assigned by the router and this can change depending on which device connected first. For every IP address on the list, you should see a corresponding MAC address next to it which identifies the connected device. This MAC address is unique for every device.
Now, since you only have four devices, check the MAC address of every device in your house that connects to the Wi-Fi network and verify it with the ones listed on the genie program. If you verify that the other two don’t belong to you, you should change your Wi-Fi password.
