Could intruders enter my Wi-Fi network without knowing that they have connected
Today, we have more and more devices connected to the Internet. Undoubtedly the connection most used today is the Wi-Fi connection, where it is most used by our laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This Wi-Fi connection is usually provided by a router, and depending on its quality, there will be more or less coverage without the need for an access point or Wi-Fi Mesh system.
It should also be noted that this wireless signal leaves our homes and can be vulnerable to attack by cybercriminals. In this tutorial, we will see if they can log into my Wi-Fi anonymously without showing up anywhere, and therefore we will not be aware of their presence.
Let's see if we can use our router to see if an attacker can get into my Wi-Fi network without showing up anywhere. We'll also see if the same can be done on a Windows computer both natively and with additional software. Also, we will see if we can use Android applications to perform this task. Finally, we conclude with a series of basic tips to prevent cybercriminals from entering my Wi-Fi wireless network.
ARP protocol in Windows 10
One way to check if someone can access my Wi-Fi in Windows 10 is by using the "ARP" command line. If you do not know, this command is responsible for displaying the list of entries in the ARP table of our equipment, ARP (Address Resolution Protocol), also known as Address Resolution Protocol, is responsible for finding the MAC address or address physical that matches a specific IP address. The way it works is to send an "ARP Request" packet to the network broadcast address that contains the requested IP address. Then, we wait for this or that computer to respond with an “ARP reply” with the Ethernet address that it has configured.
Thus, the purpose of ARP is to allow a device connected to a local network to obtain the MAC address of another computer that is connected to the same local network, whose IP address is known, so that communication works correctly and can connect. on the local network. Without ARP, the computer could connect to the network without problems, but could not send traffic.
If we want to use the ARP protocol in Windows, we will have to do it through a command that is executed in a command prompt window. To do this, we will follow these steps:
Let's go to the Windows Start menu.
We write run and press Enter.
We write CMD and press Enter again.
Then a command prompt window will appear in which we can run our commands. In this case, we are going to use "arp", if we write it and press enter it will give us the available options.
Here we see different results in which we see the IP and the physical address of each of the devices that it found in the local network. In this case, the arp command was run from the local IP 192.168.1.41, which is a laptop with wifi. If we look closely, the IP 192.168.1.2 also shows up there along with the physical address of another computer on my local network. The router also shows IP 192.168.1.1 and other network equipment. As you can see, using the "arp" command, you can see who is currently on your home LAN's wired and wireless network.
How do I find out what my MAC ARP address is?
The easiest way to identify them is to find out the MAC address of each computer or device. On Windows, this is also done in a command prompt window using the "ipconfig / all" command, where the MAC will match the physical address.
