Knowledgebase
How is my internet being used when I'm not there?
Posted by Gabriel Yu on 14 March 2008 03:29 AM
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Some
broadband users - particularly those on the budget ADSL plans with only
200MB download allowance - find that they have to closely monitor their
internet usage to avoid excess usage charges from their ISP. Sometimes
they notice that their internet usage increases even when no-one is at
their home/office.
The first thought is usually "hackers" ... but there is often a much less sinister cause.
The trend is increasingly to focus on convenience for the user, and to assume a
high-speed internet connection with no download limit; so making their
programs user friendly often involves accessing the internet at regular
intervals. For Example:
If
you have a Wireless Access Point (WAP) on your network (maybe a
wireless router), you should implement one or more of the security
measures built into the WAP to prevent your neighbours from joining
your network and using your internet connection. The newest and best
encryption is provided by WPA2, but one or more of your wireless
devices may not support is, requiring you to compromise on WPA, WEP
128-bit or WEP 64-bit encryption. See our discussion of wireless
security.
There
is always the possibility that one or more of your computers may have
been infected with a virus, spyware or Trojan. While Anti-Virus
software is run on almost every PC these days, anti-spyware software is
not so widely understood, with some people believing that their
anti-virus program provides total protection. The truth is that a
virus is just one category of "internet nasty", and that no single
program can protect you from all of them. www.spywarewarrior.com is a good starting point for finding about Spyware, including their recommended programs (both free and commercial).
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